In coordination with the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies (KFCRIS), the Regional Programme Gulf States of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) organised a workshop on the foreign policy of the Federal Republic of Germany and its implications on the Gulf States. KFCRIS hosted the workshop on September 11, 2023 at its headquarters in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

The workshop consisted of three sessions, each of which featured a presentation about German foreign policy delivered by an expert from the Federal Republic. In the first session, Dr Tobias Borck of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) delved into the complex interrelationship between Germany’s history, coalitional politics, and public opinion, on the one hand, and the country’s foreign-policy positions and how they are communicated, on the other. In the subsequent two sessions, Dr Eckart Woertz – Director of the GIGA Institute for Middle East Studies – and Peter Stein – Former Member of the German Bundestag from the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – discussed challenges and opportunities for German-Gulf cooperation in the fields of energy policy, political participation, and development practice.

The expert insights delivered in each session provoked intense exchanges over differences between Saudi and German official viewpoints toward important issues and challenges facing Europe and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Participants from Saudi Arabia and Germany agreed on the fruitfulness of the dialogue’s frank nature, in addition to the need for the conversation to serve as a blueprint for future interactions between the two countries. In this respect, attendees were of one opinion that mutual respect, confirmed through encounters emphasising equality between involved parties, constitutes a key precondition for Germany and Saudi Arabia to forge deeper bilateral ties in the future.

The workshop attracted over 30 high-calibre participants from Saudi Arabia, Germany, and other European countries. Notably, His Royal Highness Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, who serves as Chairman of KFCRIS, moderated the workshop’s first session and delivered opening and closing remarks. In addition, the workshop featured a large delegation of scholars from KFCRIS, along with representatives from the Saudi Decision Support Center, the Shura Council, the military, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia. On the German side, the Federal Republic’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Michael Kindsgrab, gave opening remarks and fielded questions about German foreign policy toward the Kingdom. Other participants from Germany included representatives from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the German-Saudi Arabian Liaison Office for Economic Affairs (GESALO), and the German media.