The Annual Haberler Conference in Liechtenstein

Photo: Sebastian Albrich / Volksblatt / volksblatt.li

It's Haberler time again! The 13th annual Gottfried von Haberler Conference opened on Friday at the University of Liechtenstein, with Prince Michael confirmed in attendance. (It's also likely that Prince Philipp, Prince Hans-Adam, and/or Prince Nikolaus were there, as all have attended in previous years.) Focusing on the theme of "Gefahr staatlicher Eingriffe" (or "danger of state intervention"), the event was dedicated to the Nobel-winning economist Friedrich von Hayek and one-time Austrian Finance Minister Joseph Schumpeter, both students of the Austrian school of economics.

In this context, Prince Michael spoke about the risks of further investment bubbles and the potential for artificial movements in market and consumer activity: "Staatliche Interventionen bergen die Gefahr, den Wettbewerb zu verzerren und dieses wichtige Korrektiv auszuschalten" ("State interventions pose the risk of distorting competition and eliminating this important corrective").

We'll update if we find out any of the others were in attendance as well.

A little more from Volksblatt.

Liechtenstein Attendance at the Haberler Conference

Photo: Forum Freie Gesellschaft / forum-freie-gesellschaft.de

On May 20th, Prince Philipp and Prince Michael were in attendance at the 12th annual International Gottfried von Haberler Conference at the University of Liechtenstein in Vaduz. The event, organized into three sessions, was focused around the theme "Über Zentralbanken, Schuldenpolitik und den geprellten Bürger" ("Central Banks, Fiscal Policy and the Betrayed Citizen"). Prince Michael gave the opening address and the farewell address. The annual conference is organized by ECAEF, or the European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation.

More about the conference here and here, as well as a video here.

For previous blog posts about the Haberler conference, see here, here, and here on the blog.

UPDATE: It turns out that Prince Hans-Adam and Prince Nikolaus were also at the conference.

Liechtenstein Royals at Haberler Conference

Photo: 1 FL TV

Today's 11th Gottfried von Haberler Conference in Vaduz brought out our usual suspects of Haberler conference attenders (is that even a word?), Prince Philipp and Prince Michael, father of the Liechtenstein princess at the Neipperg/Limburg-Stirum wedding. This year's conference, which was entitled "Be embraced, you Millions? The stranglehold of big states", took place at the University of Liechtenstein and counted former Czech president Václav Klaus and the current Liechtenstein Deputy Prime Minister Thomas Zwiefelhofer among its speakers. 

I wouldn't be too shocked to hear that Prince Hans-Adam, Prince Nikolaus and Prince Stefan were also in attendance considering that they have been in the past. In any case, Hereditary Prince Alois hosted all the participants for a cocktail reception at Schloss Vaduz this evening. Again, I wouldn't be shocked to hear that Hereditary Princess Sophie was also present. For a video of today's conference including an interview with Prince Michael, head over to 1 FL TV.

Three Princes and a Conference

Photo: Elma Korac / Liechtensteiner Vaterland / Vaterland.li

Yesterday, the 10th International Gottfried von Haberler Conference under the topic "On Statesmanship and the Limits of State Action" took place in Liechtenstein's capital Vaduz. The conference was organised by the European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation (ECAEF) in corporation with the University of Liechtenstein and other national and international sponsores. Among the board members of the ECAEF are two Liechtenstein princes, Prince Philipp and his third cousin Prince Michael. The Prince Hans-Adam II is also a member of the liberal think tank. All three of them were among the guests at yesterday's conference. Both Prince Hans-Adam and Prince Michael also held speeches.

Pictures are located at Vaterland and 1 FL TV has a video, just skip ahead to the two minute mark if you don't want to see a report about Hereditary Prince Alois' activities of yesterday.

Source: ECAEF

State Visit to Turkey - Day 3

After arriving to Turkey on Monday, their stay in Ankara on Tuesday and a visit to Gaziantep for the first half of the day yesterday, the last leg of the state visit in Istanbul already started last night when Luxembourg's Honorary Consul and businesswoman Suzan Sabancı Dinçer and her husband hosted a dinner in honour of Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. Just as one would expect, the Grand Ducal Couple had once again a busy schedule in Turkey's most populous city today.

Photo: Nicolas Bouvy / SIP

The day started off with the opening of the 5th Atlantic Council, an energy and economic summit, which was attended by the Grand Duke, Turkish President Abdullah Gül and Luxembourg's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Jean Asselborn. Grand Duke Henri was one of the keynote speakers of the opening event; his speech can be found on the website of the cour grand-ducale.

Photo: Charles Caratina / SIP

Next up was the "Turkey-Luxembourg Business Forum" jointly organised by the Luxembourgish and Turkish Chambers of Commerce as well as Luxembourg for Finance and Luxembourg for Business. The event was attended by both Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and the head of the Grand Duchy gave yet another speech towards the end of the forum.

Photo: Nicolas Bouvy / SIP

After a luncheon hosted by Istanbul's governor Hüseyin Avni Mutlu, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess paid a visit to the Topkapı Palace. Situated on the European site of the Bosphorus, the palace was the primary residence of the Ottoman sultans for more than 400 years and also served as the administrative and educational center of the state during that time. The Topkapı Palace is among the monuments included in the "Historic Areas of Istanbul" which became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. In 1924, the palace was transformed into a museum containing large collections of porcelain, robes, weapons, shields, armor, Ottoman miniatures, Islamic calligraphic manuscripts and murals, as well as a display of Ottoman treasures and jewelry. At some point of the day, the Grand Ducal Couple also seems to have hit the local shops and bazar.

Photo: Charles Caratini / SIP

To round off the day, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa hosted a dinner in honour of President Gül and his wife at the Çırağan Palace, another former Ottoman palace and now a hotel that has also hosted a few royal weddings as of late. The so-called return dinner is a tradition during state visit thanking the hosts for their hospitality.

Visuals of the day are available at the cour, Wort in German, Wort in French, Tageblatt and Haberler. The website of the Turkish President once again has both a video and pictures of the day's events here.

Sources: Gouvernement du Grand Duché de Luxembourg, Topkapı Palace

State Visit to Turkey - Day 2 *

The second day of their state visit to Turkey first led Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa as well as the delegation accompanying them to Gaziantep, the sixth most populous city of the country and one of the financial centres of the Anatolia region. Upon their arrival to the city in south-eastern Turkey, the Grand Ducal Couple was welcomed by Gaziantep mayor Asım Güzelbey and the governor of province Gaziantep, Erdal Ata.

Photo: IHA

After meeting with local authorities, Grand Duke Henri attended the opening of an economic seminar alongside Luxembourg's Minister of Economy and Foreign Trade, Etienne Schneider. The seminar focused on the question of logistics. The Grand Duke also paid a visit to the Zeugma Mosaic Museum, the world's second largest mosaic museum displaying mosaics from the Roman and the late antique times, as well as the local shops and bazars of Gaziantep.

Meanwhile, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, UNICEF Eminent Advocate for Children, and Jean Asselborn, Luxembourg's Minister for Foreign Affairs, visited the Nizip 2 refugee camp near Gaziantep. The site currently houses around 5,500 refugees who escaped the conflict in Syria by fleeing to neighbouring Turkey. During their visit, the Luxembourgish visitors announced that the Grand Duchy would donate half a million euros to fund two causes for Syrian refugees in Turkey in addition to the 7.6 million euros the country has previously five to humanitarian projects in Syria and neighbouring countries. The money will be split between UNICEF to fund schools and the World Food Programme and its food assistance programme.

Photo: Guy Wolff / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

During their stay, the Luxembourgish delegation visited the camp's hospital where children are vaccinated against polio by the World Health Organization (WHO), the kindergarten, the school, the supermarket and a few other sites. They also watched a play by Syrian children and the Grand Duchess got the chance to talk to talk to the refugees.

In the late afternoon Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa reunited for the next stop of their state visit to Turkey, Istanbul. The day ended with a dinner hosted by Luxembourg's Honorary Consul and businesswoman Suzan Sabancı Dinçer and her husband in Turkey's biggest city that is also the economical, cultural and historical centre of the country as well as the world's most famous transcontinental city.

Photo: SIP

Pictures of the Grand Duchess' visit to the refugee camp can be found at Wort in German, Wort in French, Wort in English, Wort in Portuguese and AFP while the Grand Duke's activities seem to have gone rather unnoticed photo-wise thus far. Luckily though, there are videos of his adventures available at Haberler here and here; in addition, there is also a video of the visit to the refugee camp. -- Update: More pictures are available at RTL.

Source: Gouvernement du Grand Duché de Luxembourg

State Visit to Turkey - Day 1 **

After arriving to Ankara yesterday evening, today marked the beginning of a four day state visit to Turkey by Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. This visit is the first of its kind since the establishment of diplomatic relations between Luxembourg and Turkey in 1947.

Photo: Nicolas Bouvy / SIP

The Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess started their busy day with a visit to the Anıtkabir, the mausoleum of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, leader of the Turkish War of Independence and the founder and first President of the Republic of Turkey. At the mausoleum, Grand Duke Henri laid down a wreath of flowers for "The Father of the Turks".

Photo: Nicolas Bouvy / SIP

Subsequently, the Grand Ducal Couple and their entourage including Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean Asselborn, Minister of Finance Luc Frieden and Economy Minister Etienne Schneider made their way to the Çankaya Köşkü, the official residence of the Turkish head of state, where they were greeted by President Abdullah Gül and his wife Hayrünnisa. After the playing of the national anthems, the review of the guard of honour and the obligatory pictures, the Grand Duke and the President had a private meeting which also including their wives.

Photo: Charles Caratini / SIP

The talks of the two heads of state were expanded during further meetings that were also attended by the three Luxembourgish ministers and their Turkish counterparts. Grand Duke Henri also met with Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the prime minister of the Republic of Turkey. All together the heads of state, the prime minister, the ministers and likely all kinds of other politicians and diplomats had an official luncheon. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and the wife of President Gül, meanwhile, had lunch at the presidential palace that was also attended by Turkey's Minister for Family and Social Affairs, Fatma Şahin.

Photo: Nicolas Bouvy / SIP

During a press conference held after lunch, Grand Duke Henri stressed that despite their geographical distance and differences in terms of size and population, Luxembourg and Turkey managed to establish strong and good relations between their peoples and governments over the years. He also said that the Grand Duchy supports the European project and a possible accession to the EU by Turkey when all democratic and human rights standards are fulfilled. He also thanked the country for their support for Syrian refugees.

Photo: Guy Wolff / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

Afterwards the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess reunited to pay a visit to the Tabiat Tahiri Müzesi. At the museum for mineral research and exploration, Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa heard a presentation about Michel Lucius, a Luxembourgish geologist who worked in Turkey between 1924 and 1933 on behalf of the Turkish Ministry of Commerce and also taught at the University of Ankara, given by Laurent Mignon, Luxembourgish Turkey expert of Oxford University. During the visit, the Grand Duke was gifted with a book about Lucius' work and in return gave the museum of geological map of Luxembourg. 

The next stop of the Grand Ducal Couple's agenda was the Middle East Technical University (METU) where they met with researchers and visited the Technology Park.

Photo: Guy Wolff / Luxemburger Wort / Wort.lu

The day was rounded off with a gala dinner hosted by Turkish President Abdullah Gül at the Presidential Palace. Unfortunately for all tiara lovers out there, it wasn't a black tie (or event white tie) event and thus there wasn't any bling on the Grand Duchess.

More visuals of the day are located on the website of the cour, the website of the Turkish President here and here (both links also have videos) as well as here, Wort in French, Wort in German, Wort in English, Wort in Portuguese, L'essentiel, RTL, Tageblatt and AFP. 

Meanwhile, more videos of the arrival and meeting the President, the meeting with the Prime Minister and the visit to the museum are available at Haberler.com as well as a report about the day at Wort. RTL also has a report (starting at 13:38)

Source: Gouvernement du Grand Duché de Luxembourg

 

Haberler Conference and Other News

Yesterday, the 9th International Gottfried von Haberler Conference under the topic "Are the Poor getting poorer and the Rich getting richer?" took place in Liechtenstein's capital Vaduz and numerous members of the family were involved. The conference was organised by the European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation in corporation with the University of Liechtenstein and other national and international sponsores.

Photo: sdb / Vaterland

Among the board members of the European Center of Austrian Economics Foundation are two Liechtenstein princes, Prince Philipp and his third cousin Prince Michael. The Prince Hans-Adam II is also a member of the liberal think tank. Prince Hans-Adam II, Prince Philipp, Prince Michael as well as Prince Stefan, Liechtenstein's ambassador to Germany, were definitely among the attendants of the conference. Hereditary Prince Alois hosted a reception for all the guests at Schloss Vaduz in the evening hours to round off the day.

Pictures and more information can be found at Vaterland and Volksblatt, a video (including interviews with Prince Michael and Prince Hans-Adam II) at 1 FL TV.

Photo: ZVG / Volksblatt

Two days ago, Prince Philipp honoured long term employees of his family's LGT Bank in Liechtenstein. Together they visited the Kaiser AG, a leading manufacturer of mobile walking excavators as well as sewer cleaning and disposal vehicles and afterwards whiled away the evening in a convivial round.


Source: Vaterland, ECAEF, Volksblatt