Designed and operated by the former ERA-trainee Dr.Violena Nencheva/Bulgaria and technically supported by the former Mexican trainee Arturo Herrera the first ERA Webinar was opened by ERA-President Prof.Dr.B.Hallier and Nobel Laureate Prof.Dr.R.Chung/Korea about the topic of Sustainability.

Also further trainees participated with lectures : Jitka Volfova/Czech Republic, Dr.Alina Pukhovskaya/Russia and Nora Tineva/Bulgaria. A new potential trainee from Finland clicked in to get to know the ERA-network and the way of vocational training ; and additional Dr.Ioan Matei Purcarea/Romania who had participated Prof.Hallier's seminars at the RAU in Bucarest now in return contributed an excellent lecture about the impact of IT on sustainability.
 

The last quarter of this century did bring prosperity via global trade : one of the drivers was the revitalization of the Silk Road. Prof.Dr.B.Hallier has visited in that period many times Kazakhstan but also Usbekistan, Mongolia and China discussing the development with Nobel Laureates at the Astana Economic Summit or with representatives of universities and business of the players along this network.

For Hallier beside the economic effects for the increase of the Wealth of Nations measured in GNP also the cultural bridges were utmost important for the understanding of those countries. "We in the West can learn a lot of the ancient China or about philosophy from Farabi (870 - 950) who studied logic, medicine and sociology and travelled through Kazakhstan ,Syria, Iraq and Egypt. Beside the Greek philosopher Aristoteles he was called the second master in the Arabic tradition. The three Madrasas at the Registan Place in Samarkand had been built between 1417 and 1660 and had been used for study; they had been the universities of those times." Prof.Hallier stated remembering his visits."Going to teach about the West was always also a process to learn from the East " he added. " In respect to the own mind-set it became a growing personal obligation to work for World Peace and resilience between the different tribes of the world population".
 

Prof.Dr.Hallier demands fulfillment of Global Goals instead of outdated Geopolitics. "Geopolitical Thinking belongs to the last century when Colonialism dominated World Politics" the President of the European Retail Academy explained his philosophy. "Today we should act as a Global Commu5ity of Equals knowing that we should share respectfully the resources of the one planet on which we live all. We have to optimize together a world-model of economics, ecology and ethics".

As the best set of tools Hallier sees at the moment the UN Goals 2030. "Independantly from political or religious views of people from different countries this is a box of instruments which can be individually selected from to define own ways of fulfillment or which also globally can be used as a benchmark to compare the status quo scientifically : it reflects and respects global diversity - but aiming a global optimization; and last but not least it allows organizations of civil society, businesses, political bodies and science to participate with its input" Hallier defines the statement of the European Retail Academy.
 

Kyrgyzstan is organizing in November a hybrid Event: Centralasian Sustainability Forum. It is worth to be mentioned that the mentor is Prof.Dr. Mikhail Fedorov, a very good friend of Prof.Dr.B.Hallier. Both created together with Prof.Dr.Oleg Oshkordin and their Eurasian Youth Forum on a train-trip from Yekaterinburg/Russia to Nur Sultan/Kazakhstan a statement to found a Global Green University which was signed also by the Korean Nobel Laureate Raekwong Chung. The GGU got its own HomeSite www.european-retail-academy.org/GGU designed by Dr.Alina Pukhovskaya.

"It is very important to create parallel to the revitalization of the traditional Silk Road also an academic network to promote the latest know how of Sustainability to the Stan-countries like Pakistan, Tadjikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan. We need this cross-border dialogue because there is only one world which we share all together independently of our local/regional political views or religious believes." Prof.Dr.Hallier stated as a welcome address to the Centralasian Sustainability Forum.
 

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The success of the "Duesseldorfer Pallet" in 1985/86 was for the ISB (later transformed to the DHI Deutsches Handelsinstitut) the start for sustainable packaging and logistics competences. Testimonials for DHI-Innovations came from companies like Chep, Coca Cola, the Corrugated Industry, Kaufland-Group, Krings and Metro as well as from the German Federal Minister for the Environment Prof.Dr.Klaus Töpfer. Trade had been positioned by ISB/DHI initiatives to be seen by the public as a driver for innovation for the Total Supply Chain.

For Prof.Dr.Hallier as the managing director of ISB/DHI at that time the accumulation of innovative micro-economic processes to increase efficiency/productivity is finally resulting in the macro-economic growth of the Wealth of Nations. "It is not always a big thought breaking the routine - needed for the success of Applied Sciences and connected Businesses but the sustainable process of permanent innovation in the daily operations which makes the difference of companies : Retail is Detail !" Hallier summarizes the international success of the German discounters Aldi and Lidl.
 

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