Following Herzog's appearance, a communist deputy presented him with a resolution, in the name of the majority of Duma members, in support of former East German leader Egon Krenz, who was sentenced to six and a half years' imprisonment last week in Berlin. To finish his visit, Herzog has flown to Samara on the Volga River to take part in celebrations as Sara and Stuttgart are officially named sister cities. SPD approves initiatives against youth unemployment Bonn. The SPD members of the Bundestag have approved two initiatives to fight youth unemployment, at a closed meeting. An Apprenticeship-Financing Law is intended to relieve the financial burden of companies offering apprenticeship positions to a sufficient number of young people.
Companies training too few youths, on the other hand, are to be made to pay into the programme.
At the same time, the SPD members supported a move to introduce qualification measures for beginning careers. More than a year and a half after presenting a 50-point programme to encourage investment and jobs, Federal Economic Minister Rexrodt has judged it a success. In an interim report which Rexrodt presented to the cabinet today, he indicated that almost all of the planned measures had been realized or at least initiated. Forestry report presented Bonn. Natural Resources Minister Borchert has presented his first forestry report.