The twenty-eighth Bilderberg Meeting was held at the Parkhotel Quellenhof, Bad Aachen, Federal Republic of Germany, on 18, 19 and 20 April 1980 under the chairmanship of Lord Home of the Hirsel, K.T.
There were 113 participants, drawn for a number of fields: government and politics, diplomacy, industry, trade unions, transport, banking, the law, journalism, education, and institute specialized in national and international affairs. They came from 18 western European countries, the United States, Canada and various international organizations.
In accordance with the rule adopted at each Meeting, all participants spoke in a purely personal capacity, without in any way committing the government or organization to which they belonged. To enable participants to speak frankly, the discussions were confidential with no reporters being admitted.
And opening the meeting, the Chairman, Lord Home, read the text of a telegram of good wishes which he had sent to the President of the Federal Republic of Germany on behalf of all the Bilderberg participants.