From June 22nd to 26th, Cem Özdemir, Co-Chair of the German Green Party (Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) and Member of the German Bundestag, will visit Washington, DC and San Francisco, California. During his stay he will attend several meetings with U.S.-American politicians, experts and civil society groups. The consultations in Washington D.C. will cover a range of pressing issues, including the violent upheavals in the Middle East, the related migrant crisis in the Southern Mediterranean and current and future relations between Turkey and the transatlantic alliance. In cooperation with the Brookings Institution, the hbs North America will host a public event on June 24th from 10:30am -12:00pm with Mr Özdemir to discuss some of the most pressing immigration and integration challenges Europe is facing. To RSVP for this event, please click here.
In San Francisco, Mr Özdemir will learn about how California is pushing smart infrastructure in the energy, transport and smart city sectors. California serves as a unique example on how an entrepreneurial and start-up culture pushes for cutting-edge and innovative ideas and technologies to advance sustainability. During his two-day visit, Mr Özdemir will meet with the San Francisco Department of the Environment as well as a number of innovative start-ups in Silicon Valley, including Nest by Google.
Short Biography
Cem Özdemir has served as Co-Chair of the German Green Party since November 2008. A member of the Green Party since 1981, Özdemir was elected to the German parliament in 1994 and became its first-ever member of Turkish descent. He served two legislative terms and was Speaker on Home Affairs for the Green Parliamentary Group. Özdemir was a major advocate for the reform of Germany's citizenship law, which was enacted in 2000.
In 2003, Özdemir served as Transatlantic Fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States in Washington and Brussels. From 2004 to 2009, Özdemir was a Member of the European Parliament (The Greens/European Free Alliance). In the European Parliament, he served as Speaker on Foreign Affairs for his political group, the Parliament’s Rapporteur for Central Asia, and Vice President of the European Parliament's Temporary Committee on the Alleged Use of European countries by the C.I.A. for the Transport and Illegal Detention of Prisoners
Özdemir sits on the Political Advisory Council of the German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses, as well as on the Advisory Councils of the American Jewish Committee in Berlin, the Hertie Foundation’s START-Programm, and the Hrant Dink Foundation. He sits on the boards of trustees for the German-Turkish Forum Stuttgart and for the Theodor Heuss Foundation. Özdemir is also founding member of the European Council on Foreign Relations.