2010/02/05

Reception of the MSC participants by the Mayor of Munich

Just a stone’s throw away from the conference venue, some 280 participants of the 46^th Munich Security Conference gathered together Friday evening at the invitation of Munich’s Mayor Christian Ude. In addition to Ambassador Wolfgang Ischinger, the host welcomed the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton, and German Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor Guido Westerwelle, among others, in the Gothic hall of the Old Town Hall.

In his welcome address, Christian Ude spoke about the history of the Security Conference, and highlighted its value as a platform for dialog. “The conference allowed us to witness events that clearly disprove accusations of one-sided propaganda”, Ude told his guests. The mayor of Munich recalled outstanding messages from previous conferences, such as the conditions for world peace made by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and the message directed to the U.S. representatives by former German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer in view of the Iraq War in 2003, “I am not convinced.”

Today, he said, a large number of conflicting parties, but also representatives of humanitarian and human rights organizations, had the opportunity to be heard. “Those who still claim that the conference does not serve to promote dialog and to think about ways to settle conflicts peacefully”, Ude concluded, “are simply incapable of letting go of old enemy images.” Following his speech, the guests invited by the Mayor passed on to the social part of the evening with trout from the Aumühle fish farm and wine.