Austrian Leadership Program 2022 Underlines Friendship Between Austria and Western Balkans
The Austrian Leadership Program 2022, the Secretary-General for Foreign Affairs, Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, welcomed 22 selected leaders from the countries of the Western Balkans to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This year's visit program focuses on the topic of "Green Technologies".
The Western Balkans are important to Austria's foreign policy. / Picture: © Wikimedia Commons / Olahus, cropped [CC BY-SA 3.0]
In the Austrian Leadership Program (ALPS) 2022, the Secretary-General for Foreign Affairs, Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal, welcomed 22 selected leaders from the countries of the Western Balkans to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This year's visit program, which is taking place for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, focuses on the topic of "Green Technologies".
"Our strong relations with Southeastern Europe have been and continue to be a key pillar of Austrian foreign policy and this regional focus is reflected in this year's edition of ALPS. We very much hope that through the contacts made during the course week, the strong ties between Austria and Southeast Europe will continue to be strengthened in the decades to come.", underlines Secretary-General Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal also the geopolitical importance of ALPS.
The Austrian Leadership Programs - bring together leaders from around the globe to establish a strong long-term network while spending a unique week in Austria.
For Austria Southeastern Europe has special importance. Austria wants to push EU enlargement on the western Balkans.
"ALPS can already look back on numerous success stories in which participants were able to launch new collaborations in many fields. The goal of ALPS is to show bright minds new facets of Austria: Austria is a strong, export-oriented high-tech country", said Secretary-General Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal at the launch of the ALPS program.
With the aim of creating a viable international network to help Austria assert its interests, the Foreign Ministry's Corporate Service, with content support from the Foreign Trade Division of the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber and the Federation of Austrian Industries, has been organizing the ALPS international visits program since 2016. Under this program, the Foreign Ministry invites a group of young international executives from non-EU countries several times a year to present Austria to them as a modern, competitive business and innovation location with a strong standing in Central and Eastern Europe, as well as an international player and cultural nation.
In this year's course, which took place in Vienna and Carinthia from May 15 to 19, 2022, the 22 participants from the six countries of the Western Balkans had the opportunity to meet leading Austrian companies from the energy and high-tech sectors.
Participating companies were Wien Energie, Infineon AG and KELAG AG, as well as important representatives from politics, business, industry and culture.
BMEIA Federal Ministry for Europe Integration and Foreign Affairs