Your Excellency, in June, Canada will be hosting both the G8 and the G20 summit conferences. What expectations does your country have of these two conferences?
It was a conscious decision to have the dates of the two conferences close together. Above all, the global economic crisis demands successful cooperation between the two groups. The introduction of the G20, which has given the emerging countries more influence, was necessary to provide a broader basis on which to confront the challenges of the crisis. No country can escape the global crisis – we are all much too interdependent for that. This also applies to Canada, of course, although we have survived the crisis quite well so far – without a mortgage bubble or major liquidity problems for the banks. One aim is that the two summits will also demonstrate that the international community is not slackening in its efforts to combat the crisis.
What role does Germany play in this context in your view?
Among other things, Germany and Canada are united in their efforts to combat protectionism. That would be the wrong answer to the crisis. Both countries earn about half of their gross domestic product from exports, and exports in particular need free markets.
What else do Canada and Germany have in common?
For example that about 10% of Canadians have German roots. We also cultivate intensive trade relations. In addition, in Canada’s view Germany is the leading power in the European Union. Our contacts with Germany are particularly important against the background of the current negotiations on a free-trade agreement between the EU and Canada. Germany is also an important partner for us because it is second only to the USA in the number of patents registered worldwide.
The Afghanistan conflict also presents the two countries with common challenges…
Indeed. Afghanistan is the biggest challenge for NATO since the end of the Cold War. Apart from the deployment of troops, the public debate often overlooks the civilian efforts being made by our two countries to rebuild the country. Canada will be paying Afghanistan another 1.9 billion dollars in development aid over the next few years. That is more than Canada provides to any other country. There is also close cooperation with Germany within Afghanistan itself. We are both involved in training the Afghan military and the police, and we jointly support agricultural projects. Because of our shared democratic values, Germany and Canada are especially committed to promoting the rights of girls and women in Afghanistan, for example in education. We also intend to continue our involvement in rebuilding the country after Canadian troops withdraw at the end of 2011.
Where do you see room for improvement in German-Canadian relations?
Well, although there are intensive cultural relations between our countries, I wish that young Canadians would make more use of exchange programs and come to Germany for a year. Germany and Canada laid a good foundation for this in 2006 with the Youth Mobility Agreement. Some 5,000 young Germans are currently working and studying in Canada, but unfortunately only about 500 young Canadians are doing the same in Germany.
What do you see as the benefits of a stay in Germany?
Many things: the nice people, the wealth of cultural activities, the fantastic history, the beautiful countryside. And especially the wonderful universities with their long traditions. Furthermore, young German students and researchers are becoming increasingly enthusiastic about Canada. That was something I experienced again in mid-February in Grainau, Bavaria, at the traditional meeting of the Society for Canadian Studies. I can only encourage people to learn German, one reason being because it gives you a completely different access to the cultural wealth of the country. If possible, read Goethe and Schiller in German, not in English or French. The German language enables you to experience Germany’s fascinating intellectual history from a different angle. The writer Herta Müller, who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009, also demonstrates the power of the German language.
Herta Müller was born into a German minority in Romania. Your parents also belonged to this minority – until they were expelled during the Second World War and emigrated to Canada.
Yes, German was also spoken in my family home in Canada. My children still speak German with their grandparents today. However, it took 27 years before I could use the language in my work, as I am doing now in Germany. And I really enjoy it! I try to hold all my conversations with Germans in German. OK, many Germans speak English very well, and I could get by very easily using English only, especially here in Berlin’s political world. But Germany is much more than Berlin. I try to arrange an appointment somewhere else in the Federal Republic at least once a week. And, especially on my business trips, my knowledge of German gives me better access to people. The language opens their doors and hearts to me.
