High-Level Talks with Ambassador J.D. Bindenagel

Private Reception and Discussion:
The Time is Ripe for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership

Join the German American Chamber of Commerce (GACC) of the Midwest and the Germanic-American Institute (GAI) and meet former U.S. Ambassador Bindenagel on his American Council on Germany (ACG) Warburg Chapters tour.

• Date: Wednesday, September 18, 2013
• Private Reception: 6:00 - 7:00 p.m.
• Public Speech / Q&A: 7:00 - 8:30 p.m.

• Private Reception with Amb. Bindenagel:
  $15 for GACC, GAI and ACG Members
  $25 for Guests
  Please RSVP below.
  Appetizers as well as a glass of wine or beer are included

• Public Speech: Free
  Registration below is not required but appreciated in order to get a head count.

• Location: Germanic-American Institute (GAI), 301 Summit Ave, St.Paul, MN 55102
  The GAI is handicapped accessible.
  Also, it is easily accessible from 35E/94 and has a free parking lot in the back.

Private Reception:

You will have the exclusive opportunity to meet former U.S. Ambassador Bindenagel in person and to talk to him prior to his speech.
Sign up for this private reception at the GAI - great discussions, meaningful networking as well as 
wine/beer and appetizers included.
 

Public Speech:

In his speech, former Ambassador Bindenagel will share his analysis and views of the American pivot to the Pacific with a renewed effort to revive the long awaited North Atlantic Free Trade Zone talks.

President Barack Obama recognized the role of the transatlantic economy when he asserted in his State of the Union address in February that "trade that is fair and free across the Atlantic supports millions of good-paying American jobs." American unemployment remains intolerably high and Europe is in recession. European leaders have argued the merits of austerity and growth policies to resolve the euro zone debt crisis and have welcomed the possibility of new Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership talks.

Bindenagel led the U.S. Embassy's investment advocacy program in Germany from 1994-1997 that resulted in more than $8 billion in new FDI in the eastern States of united Germany, and he was profiled in the Wall Street Journal for leading a business friendly embassy. FDI has played an important role in deepening the American ties to united Germany. As a board member of the German-American Chamber of Commerce of the Midwest, he has worked with German business in the U.S. to help the transatlantic partnership link the two leading trading blocs.

The transatlantic economy is the largest and wealthiest market in the world, accounting for over 50% of world GDP. Out of the top 10 export markets for U.S. services, five are in Europe. Foreign direct investment flows between the EU and the U.S. are more intense than anywhere else in the world. EU investment flows to the U.S. in 2011 were eight times higher than EU investment flows to China and India put together. Liberalization of trade and investment, mutual recognition of standards and other issues will usher in a new era of global power shift toward Asia. The talks promise to be difficult, but could yield substantial economic and political rewards. The world is shifting and the U.S. and Europe need each other to shape the rules of the global economy.

 Ambassador (ret) J.D. Bindenagel is Special Advisor to the President  at DePaul University in Chicago.

 Bindenagel is a former U.S. Ambassador and career diplomat and an  expert on Germany. He served in East, West and united Germany during  the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of the Cold War, unification of  Germany, the Balkan Wars, debates on North Atlantic Treaty  Organization security policy and expanded NATO membership, and  German national security from 1972 to 2002. Ambassador Bindenagel
 led the U.S. Embassy investment advocacy program in Germany from  1994-1997 that resulted in more than $8 billion in new FDI in the eastern States of united Germany. He was appointed by President Bill Clinton in 1999 as U.S. Ambassador and Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues, was Special U.S. Negotiator for "Conflict Diamonds" and Vice President of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. Prior to his diplomatic career he was assigned to the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division in Germany.