A HIGH-level German Fifa safety and security delegation has arrived in Port Elizabeth in a bid to beef up security measures for the city for the Soccer World Cup in June.

The five-person delegation from the 2006 Fifa World Cup host city, Munich, met yesterday with municipal safety and security directorate officials in an effort to exchange security ideas between the two cities.

Municipal safety and security official Shane Brown said the purpose of the visit was for the city to learn from all their experiences during the 2006 tournament.

“We’re sharing information and teaching our staff to make decisions and how to react in various situations.

“The visit is based more on realistic training such as map discussions and monitoring of CCTV cameras.”

Brown said the German safety and security team would share a joint operations centre at the South End Fire Department in Port Elizabeth, where all the city’s CCTV cameras will be monitored.

He said they had learnt about a lot of positives and negatives experienced by the previous World Cup host country.

Brown described the visit as a very significant step forward in convincing the world and football associations that Port Elizabeth’s security plan was ready for the world soccer tournament.

Honorary German consul in Port Elizabeth Philip Stucken said the group was appointed by the German government to assist South Africa’s German soccer team host cities with security.

He said the two-day German visit was for command simulation training for the local municipality. “It is an initiative that was made between the two countries years ago.

“We met with Germany’s ambassador in Pretoria last week and made an arrangement to hold a security pre-plan for the German host cities, Port Elizabeth, Durban and Johannesburg.”

Stucken said “close to 30000 German supporters are expected to attend the German team’s matches”.

He said it was in the best interest of Germany’s government to share its experience with the South African government.

Munich fire and emergency expert Lisa Krumnikl said the programme would enable the joint operation between the two countries to attend to any scene that would require security personnel during the tournament.

“We are sharing information with one another and no physical training is involved in the programme yet.”