G 20 Foreign Ministers and Climate Summit in Bonn Big stage for Bonn
BONN · With two high-profile events, Bonn will return to the international stage of world politics after years of absence. In February, there is the G20 meeting and in November, the COP23 World Climate Conference.
Coinciding with Germany’s presidency of the G20, Bonn and the World Conference Center (WCCB) will play host to a meeting of foreign ministers on February 16 and 17. The group includes the largest industrialized and emerging economies. New foreign ministers from the U.S. and Germany will meet with their colleagues from China, Russia, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia and other countries for a preparatory meeting.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said that the stability of the world economy would be the focus of the German Presidency. The Federal Foreign Office in Berlin was not yet ready to provide information on what topics would be discussed at the meeting.
Participants from 190 countries expected
Participants from 190 countries will come to Bonn for the COP23 World Climate Conference which takes place November 6 to 17. This is likely to attract much more attention. Bonn was only awarded this event in November at a conference in Marrakech, when Fiji declared it would not be in a position to host the event as originally planned. Altogether, the WCCB expects around 20,000 participants.
Christina Esser, who is in charge of event management at the WCCB, estimates that the maximum is for around 12,000 conference participants on Bonn. Because the space is far from sufficient for this event, they are currently thinking about other venues and locations with meeting rooms. “For us, this is a great honor and it will put Bonn back on the map as a United Nations location,” remarked Esser.
Memories of other big conferences are awakened
Bonn is home to the UN Climate Secretariat. In preparation for the fall conference, there will be a pre-conference meeting for Subsidiary Bodies from May 8 to 15.
The news of these conferences being hosted in Bonn brings back memories of the first UN Climate Change Conferences in Bonn in 1999 and 2001. Add to that the internationally respected discussions on Afghanistan at the Petersberg in 2001 and 2002, and a renewable energy conference in 2004. The largest international event so far in the city was in 2008 when 6,000 participants came to the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
Transportation, hotels and security will face major challenges
When the foreign ministers and other high-ranking diplomats arrive in February and many heads of state and government come to Bonn in November, this will not only pose a major challenge to transportation and accommodation logistics but also for security forces. "The Bonn police have begun with the intensive preparations. They are supported by the permanent staff of the Cologne police,” said police spokesperson Frank Piontek with regard to the G20 meeting in February. The safety of the high-ranking participants is the top priority. At the moment, there is no concrete information available on safety measures or traffic impairments. There have also been no applications received for protests or demonstrations.
(Orig. text: Martin Wein)
