The German Council on Foreign Relations () is Germany's national foreign policy network and policy research institute. As an independent, private, non-partisan and non-profit organisation, the Council actively takes part in political decision-making and promotes the understanding of German foreign policy and international relations. It serves as forum for foreign policy and facilitates a comprehensive network of political, economic and academic decision makers. The institution aims at linking foreign politicians to the German public. History The association was founded in 1955 in Bonn. The model for the foundation was in many respects the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and the Chatham House in London. The first president of the newly founded DGAP was the CDU politician, diplomat and entrepreneur Günther Henle. In Bonn, the DGAP was seated in the villa at Joachimstraße 7 between 1956 and 1959 and then in the Villa Schaumburg-Lippe-Straße 6 between 1965 and 1966. In 1965 it acquired the former House of Craftsmen at Adenauerallee 131a in Bonn, including the Villa Adenauerallee 131, which in later years served as a logo of DGAP, for the first time its own building. It served as headquarters of the DGAP from April 1966 to 1999. The current seat of the DGAP is the building of the Yugoslav embassy in the embassy district in Berlin-Tiergarten. Activities Internationally known as the "German Council on Foreign Relations", the DGAP sees itself as a practical think tank offering demand-driven policy advice on a scientific basis. It works to actively influence the foreign policy opinion-forming at all levels. Its work is aimed at decision-makers in German politics, business, public administration, in NGOs, in the military and to the general public. DGAP publishes the bimonthly journal Internationale Politik. Also, it is among other organisers of the EU-Russia Forum. The Council provides: A platform for discussions at conferences and in study group meetings as well as at public events. Policy oriented analyses from research institute fellows. Authoritative publications on contemporary topics by its journal Internationale Politik, the Jahrbuch Internationale Politik as well as in the publications from the research institute. Expert and extensive documentation by its library and documentation section. High-level guest speakers have in recent years included Angela Merkel (2006), Christine Lagarde (2012), Ali Akbar Salehi (2013), Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (2014), Mohammad Javad Zarif (2015), Paolo Gentiloni (2015), Volodymyr Groysman (2018), Nikos Kotzias (2018) and Nirmala Sitharaman (2019). Network The DGAP is a