Prof. Dr. Daniela Schwarzer, leading expert on European and international affairs, was recently appointed as German Co-Chair for the German-Japanese Forum by the Federal Foreign Office.

Professor Schwarzer has had a 20-year career at renowned think tanks, foundations and universities. Since 2023, she has been a member of the Executive Board of the Bertelsmann Stiftung. Previously, she served as Executive Director for Europe and Central Asia at the Open Society Foundations. From 2016 to 2021, Prof. Dr. Daniela Schwarzer led the German Council on Foreign Relations (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik, DGAP) as Director and CEO. In 2021, she was appointed honorary professor of political science at Freie Universität Berlin. In autumn 2022, she was a visiting professor at the Harvard Kennedy School, with which she continues to be affiliated as a senior fellow. Prof. Dr. Schwarzer will also take over the office of President of the ifa - Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen in June.

During a stay in Tokyo at the invitation of the JDZB as spokesperson for the German-Japanese Young Leaders Forum in early March, Prof. Dr. Schwarzer had the opportunity to meet her Japanese counterpart, Co-Chair Mr. Eizo Kobayashi (Director Emeritus, ITOCHU Corporation). In an open and meaningful dialogue, the two Co-Chairs agreed on important steps for the future development of the event format. The next German-Japanese Forum will be hosted by the German side in Berlin in December 2025. It is being planned and implemented by the Japan Center for International Exchange (JCIE) and the JDZB, which act as secretariats for the countries in which they are based.

After a decade of invaluable dedication and leadership to the German-Japanese Forum, former German Co-Chair Mr. Matthias Naß (Chief International Correspondent, DIE ZEIT), had stepped down from this position at the end of December 2024. During his tenure, there were several important developments, such as inviting the alumni of the German-Japanese Young Leaders Forum to participate in the discussions, and most recently, the partial opening of the Forum to the public, while maintaining the meaningful character of the Forum as a space for close and trustful exchange of ideas between German and Japanese personalities from various fields. It was also a great success that the first intergovernmental consultations between Germany and Japan in March 2023 took place after the German-Japanese Forum had made such a recommendation.

The Japanese-German Center Berlin would like to express its sincere gratitude to Mr. Naß for his invaluable commitment and guidance, wishes Prof. Dr. Schwarzer every success in her new role and looks forward to the cooperation, which has already gotten off to a very constructive start.