More information Essentials

General

23rd January 2001: Meeting with Lord Mayor of Bochum, Mr Ernst Otto Stueber:
>> How can a small town like Bochum support cultural activities in countries like the Tchad?
>>Suggestion of providing an office and an internet domain
>>Mr Stueber wanted to support the project as much as possible, showed a lot of interest in the idea

26th January 2001: Meeting with the Federal President of Germany, Mr Johannes Rau (Bellevue Palace, Berlin)
>>Mr Rau confirmed his interest in the Qafila-t-as-Salam as-Salam, and especially expressed his liking of what he called: “the philosophy of slowness” this project implies
>>The Federal President agreed to being named as a reference

13th February 2001: Meeting with the German Minister of Justice and Vice President of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Mrs Herta Daeubler-Gmelin:
>>She was very enthusiastic about the idea of doing new cave drawings and stated
>>that our CD Roms may be lasting about 10 years, while cave drawing will still be there in 10.000 years
>>Regarding the request of realizing a meeting of experts with the help of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (SDP) , Mrs Daeubler-Gmelin immediately contacted the President of the Cultural Committee of the German Bundestag, Mrs Monika Griefahn

Mr Wackernagel met Mrs Griefahn the same day.
>>She confirmed her support regarding the following two aspects:
>>Taking up the Qafila-t-as-Salam to the United Nations Lable “Dialogue among the Civilizations – 2001”
>>Realization of the meeting of experts

30th April 2001: Meeting with the Minister President of Nordrhein-Westfalen, Wolfgang Clement
>>further request for the meeting of experts
>>Answer: “In politics you are always given promises that are not kept. From my office, you will get an answer within two weeks.”

05th May 2001: The Qafila-t-as-Salam as an official project under the United Nations Lable “Dialogue among the Civilizations – 2001” through mediation of Monica Griefahns Office, Mr Dirk Beusch

14th May 2001: Telephone call by Wolfgang Clement’s Office, Mr Klaus Brueckner, who asked for a meeting regarding details for the meeting of experts

22nd June 2001: Meeting at the central office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Bonn. Participants: Mr Klaus Brueckner (State Chancellory of Nordrhein-Westfalen), Mr Reinhard Weil (Friedrich Ebert Foundation), Mr Volker Pigors (Qafila-t-as-Salam Producer), Mr Wackernagel.
>>Result: The meeting of experts will take place in the Kurt Schumacher Academy of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Bad Muenstereifel

28th June 2001: Second German UNESCO Conference regarding the United Nations Year Dialogue among the Civilizations – 2001. Contact with Mr Hans-Heinrich Wrede, Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, Department of Global Affairs
>>offer for cooperation,
>>made the contact to Mr Hans D’Orville, member of the UN Headquarters in Paris

07th – 09th September 2001: Meeting of 12 experts in the Kurt Schumacher Academy of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Bad Muenstereifel
.>>feasibility study

04th October 2001: Meeting with Mr Hans-Heinrich Wrede, Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, Department of Global Affairs
>>Initialized by the Foreign Office, a meeting will take place with representatives of the embassies of the four host countries of the Qafila-t-as-Salam, i. e. Libya, Tchad, Sudan, Uganda

07th November 2001: Second meeting with the President of the Cultural Committee of the German Bundestag, Mrs Monika Griefahn
>>regarding sponsoring / contacts

Prospect

23rd January 2002: Multimedia Presentation of the Qafila-t-as-Salam at – and in cooperation with – the Goethe Institute Berlin
>>audience: politicians, economists, journalists
>>great interest (130 visitors)
>>statement of the Ambassador of the Republic of Sudan – 1. page
>>no public results
>>no activities from the German political side

July 2002: meeting of the Qafila-t-as-Salam team – see status report

August 2002: producing a 5 minutes film presenting the Qafila-t-as-Salam

11.September 2002: presentation at the German energy-trust RWE, Dortmund
>>no further results

15. January 2003: meeting with Sheick Oumar Sissoko, Minister of culture in the Republic of Mali
>>great interest and political support
>>starting discussions to change the route

9. Mai 2003: meeting with the Libyan Ambassador in Germany
>>no further results

27. Sept. 2003: meeting with Wolfgang Clement, the German Minister for Economy and Labour
>>new plan: asking 10 German companies to give each 10 millions to support the Qafila-t-as-Salam

19. Dec. 2003: letter from the German Minister Wolfgang Clement to his collegue Joschka Fischer, German Minister of Foreign Affairs, to support the caravan

January 2004: Fischer refuses support