Berlin Office welcomes International Diplomatic Course of the Federal Foreign Office

On 26 January, the team of the Berlin Office welcomed the participants of this year's International Diplomats' Course of the Federal Foreign Office. Theres Klose, Coordinator and Event Manager of the Berlin Office, introduced the work of IFSH and its Representative Office in Berlin. Afterwards, Franziska Stärk, research associate in the Research and Transfer Project Arms Control and New Technologies, explained the future of bilateral and multilateral nuclear arms control in a short lecture.

She focused in particular on the USA and Russia and exchanged views with the diplomats on current challenges for nuclear disarmament, arms control and non-proliferation. She also discussed possible negotiations on a potential New START follow-on agreement, sub-strategic nuclear weapons and asymmetric arms control approaches. Questions about the nuclear armament of China were also the subject of the lively discussion that followed as well as possible nuclear 'lessons learned' from the Russian war against Ukraine.

The visit of the international group to the Berlin Office was part of their four-week German speaking course within the framework of the International Diplomats Training of the Federal Foreign Office.

Further talks with high-ranking representatives of the Federal Ministries and the German Bundestag as well as trips to Hamburg and Brussels are also part of the programme.