March 8, 2021

Due to their importance for the continued existence of humankind, saving the oceans was the topic of the video conference on March 8th. Climate change, plastic waste and overfishing have severely affected this ecosystem in recent years. Plastic waste in particular is a problem in this regard, as it breaks down into smaller and smaller particles instead of decomposing, thus spreading itself further and further; it can only be broken down very slowly. The guest speaker Gesine Meißner, chair of the national committee for the UN Decade of Marine Research for Sustainable Development, former EU parliamentarian and member of the EU initiative “Mission Starfish 2030” was invited by Global Bridges to answer questions and discuss possible solutions. Susanne Stampf Gräfin Sedlitzky, an author, journalist and TV producer, moderated the event.

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February 25, 2021

In order to gain insights into the work of the European Union, we had planned to travel to Brussels last year. Unfortunately, due to the Corona pandemic, the trip had to be postponed and we zoomed to Brussels once again. As Germany took over the EU Council Presidency, Global Bridges hosted a videoconference with David McAllister in June 2020, who gave us a presentation on the challenges of the German EU Council Presidency. On February 25, 2021, we had the chance to take stock of the past six months with Dr. Katarina Barley, member of the European Parliament since 2019 and its Vice President. The event was moderated by our member Dr. Daniel W. Bloemers.

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November 26, 2020

The Second German-Chinese Video Symposium between Global Bridges and the China Institute for International Strategic Studies (CIISS) was held to address issues related to the Chinese-European relations, such as the pursuit of a “level playing field” in trade and investment, as well as changing Chinese trade patterns. Since the EU and China have been working on a bilateral investment treaty for some time and the topic of China is featured prominently in the plan for the German EU Council Presidency that ends on December 31, 2020, the China-EU relations are a hot-button issue. Guest speakers as well as other participants were glad to be able to discuss the problems and future prospects in this matter with experts from both sides.

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Thursday, October 15, 2020

After the First Chinese-German Video Symposium on September 19, the Chinese side wanted to discuss the problems between Germany and China and China and the EU in a separate conference, ahead of the second video symposium in November. On the Chinese side, Maj. Gen. (ret.) XU Nanfeng, Vice Chairman of the CIISS as well as retired Senior Colonels CHEN Wei, BAI Zonglin, and YU Hanmin, all of whom are Senior Research Fellows at the CIISS, were present. On the German side, the guest speakers were Professor Dr. h.c. Wolfgang Ischinger, Chairman of the Munich Security Conference, and Jörg Wuttke, Vice President and Chief Representative of BASF in China as well as President of the European Chamber of Commerce in China. The debate was moderated by Dr. Hans Albrecht, Chairman of Global Bridges and Dr. Beate Lindemann, Executive Chairman of Global Bridges.

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