Report :

In the outset, I would like to commend all the staff of FNF for their great effort and their contribution to strengthening liberal thought and democracy in Egypt.

I have attended a 12-day training in Germany in the IAF Academy under the title "Building Alliances and Strategic Partnerships". This seminar harbored 22 participants from around the world and I found it very useful in the following areas in particular:

1. Political alliances: What do we need them for? – Forms and types of alliances – Methods of building alliances – Negotiation – Preserving alliances during crises – and Political alliances worldwide.

2. Strategic partnerships in/ among: civil society organizations, economic organizations, and organizations and parties.

3. The history and culture of Germany from the following perspectives: the political structure of the German state, Germany's history and the evolution of democracy, relevant issues for Germans, and the most prominent German parties.

I remember particularly the visit to the Concentration camp, the visit to local parliaments, and the visit to the city and museum of Weimar.

This training gave me the opportunity to build good relations with the participants and getting introduced to their culture and political and economic regimes in their respective countries.

The only shortcoming, from my view, was the visit to the Dresden Parliament and attending the debate between the Green Party and the FDP around the construction of a new bridge over the river. In fact, the topic of discussion itself was not important for the participants, as we were keener on knowing the formation of alliances by each party concerned and the means used to support the point of view thereof.