German Council on Foreign Relations

German Council on Foreign Relations

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik
Abbreviation	DGAP
Formation	1955
Founder	Hermann Josef Abs Robert Pferdmenges
Type	Think tank
Legal status	Active
Headquarters	Berlin
Fields	Foreign policy Security policy
Membership	2500+
Official language	German
President	Arend Oetker
Managing Vice President	Paul Freiherr von Maltzahn
Affiliations	Council on Foreign Relations Chatham House
Website	dgap.org

The German Council on Foreign Relations (German: Deutsche Gesellschaft für Auswärtige Politik e. V. (DGAP) is Germany's national foreign policy network. As an independent, private, non-partisan and non-profit organization, the Council actively takes part in political decision-making and promotes the understanding of German foreign policy and international relations.

It serves as forum for foreign policy and facilitates a comprehensive network of political, economic and academic decision makers. The institution aims at linking foreign politicians to the German public.

The association was founded in 1955 in Bonn. The model for the foundation was in many respects the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and the Chatham House in London. The first president of the newly founded DGAP was the CDU politician, diplomat and entrepreneur Günter Henle.

Between 1956-1959 in Bonn the DGAP was seated in the villa at Joachimstraße 7 and then between 1965-1966 in the Villa Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 6. In 1965 it acquired with the former House of Craftsmen at Adenauerallee 131a in Bonn, including the Villa Adenauerallee 131, which in later years served as a logo of DGAP, for the first time its own building. It served from April 1966 to 1999 as headquarters of the DPAG.

The current seat of the DGAP is the building of the Yugoslav embassy in the embassy district in Berlin-Tiergarten.

The association tries to actively influence the foreign policy opinion-forming at all levels. Its work is aimed at decision-makers in German politics, business, public administration, in NGOs, in the military and to the general public. DGAP publishes bimonthly, the journal Internationale Politik. It is s among other organizers of the EU-Russia Forum. The internationally known as the "German Council on Foreign Relations", the institution sees itself as a practical think tank offering demand-driven policy advice on a scientific basis. It is financed through the contributions of its members, acquired project funds and contributions from sponsors and patrons, including among others, the Federal Foreign Office (Auswärtiges Amt), Deutsche Bank, the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company and the Robert Bosch Foundation. The president of DGAP since 2005 has been Arend Oetker, Managing Vice President is the former German diplomat and former ambassador Paul Freiherr von Maltzahn. The DGAP is a member of the European Movement Germany.