Students meet the Managing Director of the SPD Bundestag Faction

On 20 May Academy students had a chance to learn more about the work of the parliamentary system in Germany and discuss the upcoming election to the European Parliament with Dr. Michael Schäfer, Managing Director of the SPD Bundestag faction, who came to the Academy accompanied by Mr. Alexander Rosenplänter, Director of Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (FES) in Bishkek. Dr. Schäfer came to Kyrgyzstan to develop links for future cooperation with the Kyrgyz Parliament. In his introductory speech he highlighted that each parliamentarian system is unique and what was successful in one country, might not work in another. Thus it is important not to copy but to adapt the experiences of others and to bear in mind the context for any parliamentary system.

Following the presentation students discussed with Dr. Schäfer the German contribution to the peacebuilding process in Afghanistan; the functioning of the party system in Germany; the connections between Russian and German parliaments after sanctions were imposed; as well as FES’ activities in Uzbekistan and many more questions. In the end, Dr. Schäfer was interested to listen to student’s opinion on Germany’s role in peace process in Afghanistan and the developments and political activities in Central Asia.

Back to list