The Alabama Germany Partnership held it's 21st Annual Dinner on March 7, 2019. Regions Field was an outstanding venue, allowing for enjoyable networking and a large silent auction prior to our seated meal. The event was a sell-out once again and our speakers for the evening were exceptional.

Mayor Randall Woodfin welcomed the crowd and shared his excitement for Birmingham's future as well as its commitment to training its citizens to be more competitive in the present and future job markets.

Next, Alabama's Honorary Consul General, Michael Johnson, introduced Dr. Ursina Krumpholz, the Minister-Counselor and Head of the Economic and Business Section of the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany. Dr. Krumpholz shared her observations of the current climate of the business and trade relationship between Germany and the USA, with specific perspectives on Alabama's role in the relationship.

Our gracious exclusive sponsor, The Alabama Community College System, was well represented by Jeff Lynn, its Vice Chancellor of Workforce and Economic Development. Jeff shared the efforts and successes of the Alabama Community College System in preparing students for industry through their numerous apprenticeship programs and ready-to-work initiatives. He then introduced our keynote speaker for the evening, Mr. Jonathan Porter, Chair of the 2021 World Games to be held in Birmingham.

 

Author Cornelia Franz

Our guest author from Hamburg, Germany, Cornelia Franz, has written several successful children's and young adult books, travel guides and novels for grown-ups. After completing German and American studies at the university level, as well as undertaking many adventurous travels and diverse jobs, she apprenticed as a publisher's bookseller and worked for several years as an editor.

 

It is with great anticipation that we welcome Cornelia to Alabama on her second "Lesereise" (reading tour) of which she will be reading and sharing her works with middle-school aged, secondary and university students across the State. She will also be working with our German teachers in their classrooms to help inspire and encourage language students with their German writing and reading skills. Some AGP members may remember that when Cornelia visited us in 2012, she captivated the hearts of both German teachers and students alike. Her creative work deals at various times with teenagers learning to live and make decisions out of conflict, but always with a contemporary and cultural twist, readily recognizable to young readers today.

 

A 21st-century perspective to climate change and its effects on society have been detailed in her 2012 novel, Ins Nordlicht Blicken (Gazing into the Northern Lights),which won several regional awards in Germany and became required reading or " Prüfungslektüre " for secondary students in Baden-Württemburg in 2016, with Niedersachsen and Saarland following to adopt the text in 2017.

 

Her most recent book, So fremd, so schön (So different, so beautiful), dealing with current immigrant relationships in Germany (and representing Birmingham, Alabama!) was published to acclaim in 2016 by Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag.

It will be presented at a reading at Samford University as part of her Alabama "Lesereise" - free to the community. Join us:

Monday, April 8

7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Chapman Hall, Room 322

Samford University, Birmingham

Visitors can park in lot 41a on the map  . 

AGP Young Professional's new leadership group hosted their first social hour at Pilcrow Cocktail Cellar in Birmingham last month. The group have appointed Pauline Langemann as the leader for the group.

In a stunning new chapter of Mercedes-Benz's expansion in North America, the automaker plans to build an ultraluxe Maybach model exclusively at its plant in Alabama, where the rarefied sedan nameplate will be applied to an SUV.

The new Maybach, based on the all-new third-generation GLS platform, would be the most expensive passenger vehicle made in America. The model is expected to be priced at about $200,000, sources said.

Slow global trade, auto industry troubles and low water on the Rhine all contributed to a final-quarter growth of zero percent, meaning Europe's biggest economy dodged a technical recession by the smallest of margins.

The Federal Statistics Office (Destatis) reported on Thursday that gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the final quarter of 2018 was zero percent compared to the third quarter, and 0.6 percent compared to the  same quarter in 2017.

A decline in the third quarter of 2018 had raised fears of a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.

Europe's largest economy enjoyed a "first half year with plenty of momentum", adding 0.4 percent in the first quarter and 0.5 percent in the second, federal statistics authority Destatis said, adding: "A small trough in the second half of the year" brought shrinkage of 0.2 percent between July and September and no change in the final three months.