{"id":36085,"date":"2026-06-14T06:01:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-14T06:01:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/36085\/"},"modified":"2026-06-14T06:01:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-14T06:01:36","slug":"germanys-president-to-head-to-indonesia-philippines-and-uzbekistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/36085\/","title":{"rendered":"Germany’s president to head to Indonesia, Philippines and Uzbekistan"},"content":{"rendered":"

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is departing on Sunday for a five-day trip to Asia, with stops planned in Indonesia, the Philippines and Uzbekistan, according to the presidential office.<\/p>\n

Steinmeier will be accompanied by his wife Elke B\u00fcdenbender and a business delegation, his office said.<\/p>\n

Indonesia is South-East Asia’s largest democracy, the world’s largest island nation and the world’s largest Muslim-majority country, with more than 280 million inhabitants.<\/p>\n

Since 2024, the country has been governed by President Prabowo Subianto, a former general and former defence minister who won the election by a clear margin.<\/p>\n

A key focus of Steinmeier’s visit to the capital Jakarta will be the peaceful coexistence of different religions.<\/p>\n

In the Philippine capital Manila, the German president plans to visit a Lufthansa production facility and meet Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa.<\/p>\n

The Philippines is one of South-East Asia’s most populous countries, with 117 million inhabitants.<\/p>\n

Ferdinand Marcos Jr has been president since 2022. He is the son of former long-time ruler and dictator Ferdinand Marcos.<\/p>\n

His government is pursuing a comparatively pragmatic course, focusing on investment, economic growth and closer cooperation with the US – particularly in light of tensions with China in the South China Sea.<\/p>\n

The final stop on Steinmeier’s trip is the Uzbek capital Tashkent, where the president plans to visit a branch of German construction company GP G\u00fcnter Papenburg, among other engagements.<\/p>\n

The visit is expected to focus on the topic of skilled labour migration. Many young people from Uzbekistan go to work as guest workers in Russia or Turkey.<\/p>\n

Uzbekistan also has more German-language learners than any other country in Asia, the presidential office said.<\/p>\n

With nearly 40 million inhabitants, Uzbekistan is the most populous former Soviet republic in Central Asia.<\/p>\n

The country’s rapidly growing population – largely rural and Muslim – lives in poverty, in part because Uzbekistan, unlike its neighbours Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, has only limited reserves of oil and gas.<\/p>\n

This contributes to significant social problems.<\/p>\n

Political observers have said that there is still no genuine opposition in the country and that civil rights are being disregarded.<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE PHOTO – German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier (R) and his wife Elke Buedenbender (L) visit the exhibition “Archaeological Treasures from Uzbekistan – From Alexander the Great to the Kushan Empire” at the Neues Museum with Uzbek President Shavkat Mirsiyoyev (2nd R) and his wife Siroachon Mirsiyoyeva. (is associated with: \u00abGermany’s president to head to Indonesia, Philippines and Uzbekistan\u00bb) Bernd von Jutrczenka\/dpa<\/p>\n

\"FILE<\/p>\n

FILE PHOTO – Winner of the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize Filipino journalist Maria Ressa sits on the “Center Stage” at the 77th Frankfurter Book Fair. (is associated with: \u00abGermany’s president to head to Indonesia, Philippines and Uzbekistan\u00bb) Andreas Arnold\/dpa<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier is departing on Sunday for a five-day trip to Asia, with stops planned in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36086,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[32774,8875,396,5,7567,32773,7086,32772,2043],"class_list":["post-36085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-ferdinand-marcos-jr","tag-frank-walter-steinmeier","tag-german-president","tag-germany","tag-indonesia","tag-maria-ressa","tag-philippines","tag-presidential-office","tag-uzbekistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36085"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36085\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}