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From Lake Constance to Bollywood

Annual Summer Festival by Baden-Württemberg State Representation in Berlin Celebrated Cosmopolitan From Lake Constance to Bollywood

July 21st, 2016
Ingrida Haringová, News from Berlin
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The Baden-Württemberg State Representation held the annual celebration of the region's partnerships, focusing especially on cross-border cooperation and the new strategic partnership with the Indian region of Maharashtra.

The celebration brought together the Permanent Representation of Baden-Württemberg, the Federal State of Vorarlberg and the Region of Lake Constance on July 7th.

The festival was established 53 years ago by the Baden-Württemberg State Representation in Berlin and since then has evolved into a summer festival with around 1,500 guests from the fields of politics, media, culture, business and civil society. This year it wwas attended by the Chancellor, Angela Merkel.

Minister President of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann, said ahead of this year's party that: “6,500 km separates the Island of Mainau and Mumbai, but not so much in the digital world and also at the 53rd ‘Stallwächterparty’ in Berlin. But that is just who we, Baden-Württembergers are: present everywhere, open-minded while not having forgotten where we come from. We cooperate closely with our neighbours, but also partners worldwide.”

Secretary, Volker Ratzmann, added that the state representation is not only a place to contact the Federal Council, parliament and government, but an international meeting place as well.

This year's festival was dominated by the theme of international networking in Baden-Württemberg and the 63 regional and international partnerships the state is currently involved in. For example the recent partnership with the Indian region, Maharashtra. The capital city of Maharashtra is Mumbai, the centre of movie production in India - Bollywood. The two regions have been cooperating together in different areas of the IT sector and tourism since last year.

Moreover, Baden-Württemberg now cooperates with ten partner countries and cantons in the International Lake Constance Conference, promoting the region as an attractive, natural, cultural and economic environment in which to live. The conference contributes to overcoming borders in the region by means of political consultations and joint programmes.

The supporting program of the ‘Stallwächterparty’ celebrated the motto ‘Worldwide: // Cosmopolitan From Lake Constance to Bollywood’ through a ‘Bollywood Dance Ensemble’. The aim is to build bridges between East and West by combining Indian Classical and Bhangra with Hip Hop and Breakdance, and the band ‘Take a dance’, which performs music spanning virtually every era, from the fifties until the present. Food on offer included Indian cuisine and specialties of the Lake Constance region.

As before, the event was organised climate neutrally. The event supports the climate protection project „Sidlaghatta Biogas Project“ in India. For the partner region of Dohuk in northern Iraq, Baden-Württemberg has organised a fundraising campaign which has raised €10 000.

The term ‘Stallwächterparty’, or stable guard party, is effectively a meeting of those who "keep the stable guard" during the political summer break. Today the stable guard party showcases the land in all its diversity and has developed in recent decades into a major communication platform in Berlin.

More information about the party can be found on twitter, by searching for the hashtag #Stallwaechterparty.

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News from Berlin