Ostasiatisches Liebesmahl

The “Ostasiatisches Liebesmahl” is the major networking event for the German business community operating in Asia: a festive dinner banquet highlighted by eminent speakers. Their exchange of ideas is initiated by the keynote speech covering current developments in the Asia-Pacific and German-Asian relationship. Business executives come from executive levels of the big industrial players and the banking industry as well as from the dynamic German SME sector. “Liebesmahl” is an old Christian tradition: a meal taken together by the community. This tradition was initiated by the Prussian navy at the end of the 19th century: Sailing to East Asia, they invited representatives of the German trading houses in the region to a dinner on board. When OAV was founded in Hamburg in 1900, the pioneers of German trade with Asia transferred this tradition to Germany. Every year they organized a dinner for the German business community and guests from the Asia-Pacific region. The list speakers at the “Ostasiatisches Liebesmahl” includes German chancellors and ministers as well as presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany and eminent speakers from Asia.

Keynote Speakers, 2000 to 2017

80th Liebesmahl, 3 March 2000 Johannes Rau President of the Federal Republic of Germany

H.E. Surin Pitsuwan Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand

81st Liebesmahl, 9 March 2001 H.E. Sri Yashwant Sinha Minister of Finance, Government of India

82nd Liebesmahl, 1 March 2002 Dr. Angela Merkel Chairwoman of the Christlich Demokratische Union

83rd Liebesmahl, 28 March 2003 H.E. José Camacho Secretary of Finance of the Republic of the Philippines

84th Liebesmahl, 30 March 2004 H.E. Suchart Jaovisidha Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand

85th Liebesmahl, 15 April 2005 Wolfgang Clement Minister of Economics and Labour, Government of Germany

86th Liebesmahl, 24 March 2006 Prof. Dr. Horst Köhler President of the Federal Republic of Germany

87th Liebesmahl, 13 March 2007 H.E.George Yeo Foreign Minister of the Republic of Singapore

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88th Liebesmahl, 14 March 2008 Baba Kalyani Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Forge Limited, Pune/India

89th Liebesmahl, 6 March 2009 Dr. Surin Pitsuwan ASEAN Secretary General

Sigmar Gabriel Federal Minister of Environment, Government of Germany

90th Liebesmahl, 26 March 2010 Rainer Brüderle Minister of Economics and Technology, Government of Germany

91st Liebesmahl, 25 March 2011 Christian Wulff President of the Federal Republic of Germany

92nd Liebesmahl, 30 March 2012 H.E. Elbegdorj Tsakhia President of Mongolia

93rd Liebesmahl, 22 March 2013 H.E. U Soe Thane Union Minister, Minister at the President’s Office, Myanmar

Dr. Philipp Rösler Minister of Economics and Technology, Government of Germany

94th Liebesmahl, 7 March 2014 Hon. Cesar V. Purisima Secretary of the Philippine Department of Finance

Dr. Hubert Lienhard Chairman of the Asia-Pacific Committee of German Business (APA)

95th Liebesmahl, 6 March 2015 Dr. Supachai Panitchpakdi Former Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and former Secretary-General of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)

96th Liebesmahl, 4 March 2016 Michael Lawrence Chief Executive of Asia House, London

97th Liebesmahl, 24 March 2017 Sigmar Gabriel Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs, Government of Germany

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