Who are the Munich Young Leaders?

The program brings together 25 outstanding young representatives of governmental institutions, parliaments, think tanks, the media and the private sector from Germany, selected NATO member and partner states, as well as from states of strategic importance in the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle East and Africa.

The Munich Young Leaders discuss current issues related to transatlantic foreign and security policy with high-ranking participants of the Munich Security Conference. Besides an individual program, the Munich Young Leaders also take part in the Munich Security Conference.

Speakers of previous years include the German Federal Ministers Wolfgang Schäuble and Ursula von der Leyen, Henry Kissinger, the Foreign Ministers of France, Poland and Iran – Laurent Fabius, Radosław Sikorski, and Javad Zarif – as well as Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Victoria Nuland, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs, Fu Ying, Chairperson of the Committee on Foreign Affairs at the National People’s Congress in Beijing and Christine Lagarde, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The Munich Young Leaders program gives future decision-makers the opportunity to introduce new ideas into the security-policy discourse and to strengthen their international networks. They are under 40 years of age, have an outstanding knowledge in the field of foreign and security policy as well as strong social skills. Their command of the English language is excellent.

How are the Munich Young Leaders selected?

The German Embassies in selected states propose each up to three potential participants who fit the above profile. In coordination with the Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, Körber Foundation chooses the international participants out of the proposals submitted.

The German Munich Young Leaders are recruited in particular from the Körber Network Foreign Policy, a group of outstanding young foreign policy specialists of the German government, the German Bundestag, as well as of think tanks and the private sector. Please understand that unsolicited applications cannot be considered.

Further activities

Once a year all Munich Young Leaders classes gather for an Annual Meeting which is usually arranged and organized independently by a team of Munich Young Leaders alumni. During the Annual Meeting the participants discuss current foreign and security policy issues and have the opportunity to talk to high-ranking personalities of the host country. The Annual Meetings of the Munich Young Leaders took place in Berlin in June 2010, in Kyiv in June 2011, in Morocco in November 2012, in Bavaria in January 2014, in May 2015 in Washington, DC, in Warsaw in September 2016, in September 2017 in Moscow and in Madrid in September 2018. The Anniversary Annual Meeting of the Munich Young Leaders alumni took place in New York City in September 2019.

In cooperation with the renowned London International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), every year one of the Munich Young Leaders has the chance to attend the IISS Asia Security Summit – Shangri-La Dialogue and the IISS Regional Security Summit – Manama Dialogue.