second try

1990 – German Reunification and the
New Europe
In October 1989, the Berlin Wall – the divide between
East and West and stark symbol of the Cold War – was
pulled down.
Helmut Kohl recognized the urgency to act. The German
Democratic Republic was imploding and needed
immediate economic support to maintain financial stability.
For his part, the deeply affected Modrow realized that
he could no longer insist on the post-reunification
neutrality of Germany.
On his return to Bonn, Chancellor Kohl moved quickly.
Days later, on 7 February, his cabinet confirmed
officially the proposal for the monetary union of the two
Germanies. Eight months later, the process was complete
and, on 3 October 1990, Germany was reunified.
Spurred by the atmosphere of awakening and excitement
that prevailed in Davos, an informal group of East and
West German parliamentarians and business leaders
joined forces under the leadership of Otmar Franz,
Chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Working Group on
European Currency in the European Parliament. They
called for immediate implementation of a monetary
stabilization programme for the German Democratic
Republic. This initiative became the basis for the
economic reunification of West and East Germany.
At the Annual Meeting, a session on the “New Europe”
took place, bringing together for the first time the heads
of Western and Eastern European countries. In June, four
months before the formal reunification of the Germany,
the Forum organized its first East-West Germany meeting,
which took place in a hotel in East Berlin. Participants
from the West had to cross Checkpoint Charlie to reach
the venue on the other side of the Berlin Wall. One week
later, that infamous checkpoint was dismantled.
At Davos, another historic meeting took place.
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who would
step down as his country’s leader in November, sat down
with Vo Van Kiet, First Vice-Chairman of the Council of
Ministers of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, who would
become prime minister from 1991 to 1997. Two years
after this encounter, Vietnam signed the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Treaty of Amity and
Cooperation, a move that led the country to become a
member of ASEAN in 1995.
Klaus Schwab invited the heads of all the political
constituencies of South Africa to the Forum's
headquarters in Geneva. They met together for the first
time to discuss the post-apartheid future. This meeting led
to the strong partnership of the Forum with South Africa
and to a whole range of activities and initiatives relating to
that country and the rest of the African continent.
The encounter
between West
Germany’s
Federal
Chancellor
Helmut Kohl
and the newly
elected East
German Prime
Minister Hans
Modrow at the
1990 Annual
Meeting in
Davos was
decisive in
determining
the course
of German
reunification.
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