As of: February 10, 2024, 6:19 p.m
By: Elisa Buhrke
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As in previous years, the Munich Security Conference 2024 will take place at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof.
© picture alliance/dpa |
Sven Hoppe
Every February, high-ranking politicians travel to Munich for the security conference.
Here you can find all the important information about participants, the program and planned counter-actions.
Munich - This year, the security conference is celebrating its 60th anniversary: from February 16th to 18th, high-ranking politicians and experts from all over the world will come to Munich to discuss the most urgent issues of international security.
When will the 2024 security conference take place in Munich?
Date, location and road closures
As in previous years, the 60th Munich Security Conference (MSC) will take place at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof, this time on the third weekend in February from Friday, February 16th to Sunday, February 18th.
According to the Munich Police Department (as of Thursday, February 8th), as part of the security conference, “no-parking zones that are necessary both for security reasons and to ensure that registered meetings can be carried out without disruption” will be set up.
The area around the Bayerischer Hof and the venues of demonstrations are likely to be affected.
Increased monitoring and clearing of the no-parking zones will begin as early as Wednesday evening, February 14th.
“As a result, there will be consistent towing there,” said the police.
With a view to the carnival holidays, which begin on the MSC weekend, she wants to inform the people of Munich about the measures in good time.
The police strongly recommend that vehicle owners check promptly whether their car is in such a restricted zone and, if so, remove it from it.
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Who will take part in the Munich Security Conference 2024?
According to the MSC website, a complete list of participants will only be published shortly before the start of the event.
According to reports from the German Press Agency (dpa), Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz, US Vice President Kamala Harris and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are traveling, and UN Secretary General António Guterres is scheduled to open the conference.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is also expected.
As conference leader Christoph Heusgen announced to the dpa, Israeli President Izchak Herzog is coming to Munich, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is not.
Since Hamas' terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 is expected to be one of the main topics, heads of government from Lebanon, Qatar, Iraq and Kuwait as well as foreign ministers from Saudi Arabia and Oman are also expected to attend.
According to the organizers, a total of “around 50 heads of state and government, more than 100 ministers and the heads of many important international and civil society organizations” are expected to travel to the security conference.
The following will not be there: government representatives from Russia and Iran as well as members of the AfD, the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance and the Values Union association.
High-ranking politicians are expected again at the Munich Siko in 2024.
In 2023, Olaf Scholz, Kamala Harris and (see photo) Emanuel Macron, among others, arrived.
© picture alliance/dpa |
Felix Hörhager
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What topics are on the MSC 2024 agenda?
According to the website, details about the agenda of the Munich Security Conference will also only be published shortly before it begins.
However, it is likely that the wars in Ukraine and Israel as well as the issues of migration and climate change will play a central role.
The organizers write on their website:
“Following our activities and publications in 2023, MSC 2024 will address important topics such as Europe's role in security and defence, new visions of global order, the security implications of climate change and many other questions.”
Siko 2024 in Munich: What demos and counter-events are planned?
A number of protests and counter-events can be expected around MSC 2024.
The action alliance against the NATO Security Conference is calling for an “Anti-Siko” demonstration on Saturday, February 17th.
According to the website, it will start with a kick-off rally at Stachus from 1 p.m.
The demonstrators then want to walk to Odeonsplatz around 2 p.m. and form a human chain around the Siko site to symbolically “surround” the conference.
The final rally is planned at Marienplatz from 3:30 p.m.
According to KVR information, 17 rallies have been announced so far - these are likely to take place primarily at Stachus, Odeons-, Marien- and Max-Joseph-Platz.
Parallel to the Siko, the “Munich Peace Conference” will take place this weekend.
It begins with an opening event on Friday evening, February 16th in the Munich Freedom Hall and continues on Saturday, February 17th with workshops and lectures.
A “Religious Peace Prayer” is scheduled for Sunday, February 18th.
When was the first security conference and why is it always in Munich?
Munich simply has a tradition as a venue for the security conference: in 1963 it took place for the first time on a much smaller scale under the name “International Wehrkunde-Begegnung”.
Since then it has been held annually in February in the Bavarian capital.
Only in 2021 did it have to be reduced to a digital form due to the corona pandemic.
According to the Federal Ministry of Defense, representatives from NATO countries gathered at the first conference, including Henry Kissinger (not yet US Secretary of State) and the later Federal Chancellor Helmut Schmidt.
According to the organizers, it was entirely intentional that the Siko initially only took place in a very small group: primarily, it was intended to enable the German participants to meet their colleagues from the most important allied states.
Today the scope has expanded significantly.
At the same time, according to the organizers, “the heart” of the Siko “will always remain transatlantic”.
The Munich location represents an “independent meeting place” for politicians and experts.
Who finances the MSC?
The Munich Security Conference is financed by the federal government, the Bavarian state government and private sponsors.
The organizers list the Federal Foreign Office, the Defense and Development Ministries, the Bavarian State Office for Information Security and the Bundeswehr as government partners.
From the private sector, Bayer, Amazon, Meta, Microsoft and various management consultancies are among the main sponsors.
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