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We are pleased to announce that Rt Hon David Miliband MP, British Foreign Secretary, and Maxime Verhagen, Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs, have been invited to address the Conference.
The central theme of the Apeldoorn Conference 2009 is "Trust, social cohesion, citizenship and the state in an economic down turn" with four sub themes:
 Trust, leadership and the role of the state
Globalisation, migration and the labour market
Solidarity and supporting the vulnerable in modern societies
Human rights and communities
 Apeldoorn Conference 2009 – Theme Document
In 1999 Prime Ministers Wim Kok and Tony Blair agreed to instigate a bilateral conference: the Apeldoorn Conference. Their objective was to bring together a representative and informed group from the UK and the Netherlands on a regular basis to reflect on issues of political relevance and shared concern. The first conference took place in 2000 in Apeldoorn, from which the conference series took its name.
When Foreign Ministers Jack Straw and Jozias van Aartsen met in 2002, they agreed to build on this success by establishing the Young Apeldoorn Conference. They wanted to bring together those young people whose views and decisions will affect Anglo-Dutch and European cultural, political and economic relations over the next decade. Therefore, on alternate conferences within the series, the delegates are no more than 35 years of age.
The Conference series is organised by the British Council Netherlands, the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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