Working Lunch with ambassadors

Helping people to help themselves

ASB Federal chairman and MEP Knut Fleckenstein and MEP Tanja Fajon met in Berlin on 24th May, 2013, with representatives of Western Balkan countries to discuss current and future challenges of their cooperation.

For many years, the ASB has been actively involved in refugees’ aid, mine clearance and agricultural production development projects in the countries of former Yugoslavia. At a meeting in the ASB representative office in Berlin the Ambassadors of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo and Montenegro gained good insights into this work.

Since 1990, the ASB has realized more than 200 humanitarian development projects in the Balkans such as the (re-) construction of over 10,000 homes, schools, hospitals, kindergartens, community and cultural centres. More than 50,000 people in need have been supported in reconstruction of buildings and reestablishment of economic, technical and social structures. Michael Schnatz, project coordinator for International Samaritan co-operations of ASB Germany presented some of the projects more comprehensively and Stephanie Havekost, responsible for International Relations of ASB Germany, informed about the tasks and projects of SAMARITAN INTERNATIONAL.

The ASB approach of strengthening the competences and capacities of people on site and establishing sustainable projects could convince the ambassadors so that they announced their cooperation, for example by arranging contacts.