Speech by Otto Schily Federal Minister of the Interior "Germanyand the FIFA World Cup" at the occasion of the official opening of SportAccord 2005 on 18 April 2005

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Together with the Berlin Senate, we have made a great achievement in hosting SportAccord 2005, the world’s largest conference for international sports clubs. I would like to wish you all a very warm welcome to Berlin and to Germany as a sports location.

Sport is an important, healthy and sensible way for billions of people worldwide to spend their leisure time. Sport also has many and diverse social functions. In particular, it brings people together from across borders. Sport knows no borders.

Making sport accessible to children, young people and adults is a very important task - one to which your sports clubs devote great attention. Here in Germany more than 29 million people are members of sports clubs. That is more than a third of the entire population. The Germans are crazy about sports and this is why Germany makes an outstanding location for international championships.

This is demonstrated by the large number of major sporting events that we will be hosting over the next few years. This year we are looking forward to the Confederations Cup, the World Games and the Beach Volleyball World Championships here in Berlin. Next year is full of sporting highlights: the World Table Tennis Championships in Bremen, the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, the Hockey World Championships in Mönchengladbach and - FIFA World Cup 2006! The list goes on with FIFA World Cup for mentally handicapped people immediately following the World Cup, the Handball and Triathlon World Championships in 2007, the World Road Cycling Championships, the European Wheelchair Basketball Championships through to the Athletics World Championships 2009 here in Berlin. And these are not the only events on our agenda... .

My thanks goes out to everyone who has helped to make it possible for Germany to host these events, and, in advance, to all those who are now working hard on the preparations for these major events.

[Host strategy]

Ladies and Gentlemen!

With great excitement, we are counting down the last 416 days before Germany hosts the FIFA World Cup for the second time. Apart from the Olympic Games, there is probably no other event (other than the election of a new pope) that can cast its spell over so many people worldwide. In 2006 the world’s eyes will be on Germany. We are looking forward to this festival of football, which will offer our country completely unique opportunities. It will be "a time to make friends" with the many visitors we are expecting from across the globe next year!

This tournament enables us to present Germany as a modern and innovative location for business, science, culture and sports. With this as its objective, the Federal Government has developed a creative and comprehensive host strategy, which is currently being implemented.

We have an arts and culture programme based on an initiative of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder. The centrepiece and already unmistakeable symbol of the programme is the FOOTBALL GLOBE designed by André Heller. This accessible pavilion, which connects the image of the globe with the form of the football, has been touring German cities that will host World Cup matches since autumn 2003. Almost half a million visitors have now seen the globe from inside. This is an enormous success.

With more than 30 projects, the arts and culture programme is designed to present the cultural diversity of Germany as well as its openness to the world at a national and international scale. In addition, the Federal Republic will present a festival of football for the start of the World Cup on 8 June 2006 in Berlin. André Heller is responsible for the artistic direction, while FIFA is responsible for organisation. To a certain extent, the football festival is designed as the finale of our arts and culture programme. No previous FIFA World Cup has ever had such a kick-off. It was worth it for the Federal Government to stand by this project and bring it to fruition. The strategy has impressed FIFA so much that it now intends to implement it itself. In FIFA’s opinion, constructive cooperation between those responsible for football and the host nation is not simply about organising a smooth-running football tournament, but goes far beyond that. This festival will certainly be a spectacular event that will be long remembered.

Ladies and Gentlemen!

The host strategy also includes a joint campaign for better service and hospitality. This is being organised by the World Cup Organising Committee, commercial airports, the automobile club ADAC and all the major tourism industry associations. Germany is known as a good and practical organiser. We want to prove that we are excellent service providers too.

Put on a happy face: Germans can be cheerful, although to date this is not something we are known for abroad. The target group for this service campaign includes anyone who will have anything to do with World Cup 2006 guests - from taxi drivers, via hot dog sellers, through to hotel staff.

Germany must impress people through its willingness to help and friendliness and trade and industry through its strengths as a business location. For this reason we are planning a strong marketing campaign for Germany as a business location. World Cup 2006 will stimulate the German economy and naturally we want to make best possible use of this.

As a result of the World Cup alone, our gross domestic product will increase by nearly 8 billion euros from 2003 to 2010. The tourism sector is counting on around five million additional overnight stays and an increase in turnover of around three billion euros. As a whole - according to a study by Postbank – the World Cup is likely to boost Germany’s gross domestic product by around 0.5 per cent.

Germany will present itself in 2006 as a strong, modern and innovative business location using the motto "Germany - Land of Ideas". Alongside sporting events, the state-run company Invest in Germany will advertise Germany as a business location to investors worldwide. For example, we used the international football match between Germany and Brazil on 8 September 2004 in Berlin and the German National Team’s trip to Asia in December of last year to convince potential investors of the efficiency and merits of Germany as a business location.

In addition, the various departments of the Federal Government are involved in organising the World Cup within their areas of responsibility. These include the health system, protocol, as well as special campaigns (e.g. coins and stamps), tourism, consumer protection, logistical support and last but not least environmental protection. This is a trademark of Germany and it therefore plays a major role in planning the World Cup.

For example, Federal Government is supporting the Organising Committee in its implementation of its "Green Goal" initiative. We have an ambitious target: FIFA World Cup 2006 in Germany will be the world’s first climate-neutral World Cup.

The strategy provides for a 20 per cent reduction in water and energy consumption through targeted measures at the stadiums, such as using rain and surface water or water-saving technology, solar and photovoltaic equipment.

In order to prevent this major sporting event causing lasting damage to the atmosphere, carbon dioxide emissions are to be cut by 100,000 tonnes through climate projects in South Africa and South East Asia.

[Government guarantees]

Ladies and Gentlemen!

Our host strategy is our optional programme in preparing for FIFA World Cup 2006. Our mandatory programme is that of fulfilling the government guarantees that we offered FIFA during our bid to host the World Cup. Without government support, it would not be possible to stage a major event like the World Cup anywhere today.

We will enjoy a fun, but above all peaceful World Cup in Germany. There is no place for hooligans in German stadiums and in German cities! In close co-operation with other countries, we will take tough action against trouble-makers and hooligans. We must and will put a stop to acts of violence such as those we have unfortunately witnessed in the last few weeks in Germany and abroad.

Equally important among the government guarantees that we offered are those concerning transport infrastructure and traffic management. The current transport infrastructure, i.e. roads, railways, airports and local public passenger transport, can easily cope with a major international event like the FIFA World Cup 2006. Germany is known for its excellent infrastructure.

In order to maintain this image, ever since we were selected to host the FIFA World Cup, the Federal Government, federal states (Länder) and towns and cities have made significant investments to improve the transport infrastructure even further for this event. The Federal Government has invested around 3.7 billion euros in measures to extend and expand Germany’s major roads network alone. We are counting on traffic flowing smoothly during the World Cup 2006. Additional expansion and extension measures to facilitate access to the World Cup cities and the World Cup stadiums will be completed by 2006.

The principle behind all transport and infrastructure projects is sustainability. This also applies to other investments. The Federal Government has invested more than 246 million euros in renovating stadiums in Leipzig and Berlin. The modern Berlin Olympic Stadium will not only host the final match of FIFA World Cup 2006: the next highlight to be hosted there will be the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in 2009.

The Federal Government’s activities are on schedule. Many of the guarantees will have been implemented in time for the Confederations Cup in June of this year. In our mandatory programme as well as in our optional programme, we are aiming to score the highest points and once again provide evidence of the ambitions and significance of Germany as a sports location for future major events.

I hope to welcome many of you back to Germany again next year and I wish you every success for this year’s conference and hope you enjoy your stay in Berlin.