Thomas Silberhorn was appointed Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development in February 2014. Prior to this appointment, he was Deputy Chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the German Parliament (Bundestag).

The focus of his work is on core development issues for the future: human rights and good governance, education, health, poverty reduction, water supply and sanitation, energy and resources. Mr Silberhorn also concerns himself with globalisation and trade issues and the new agenda for United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

He is Germany's Governor at the African Development Bank. And he is responsible for bilateral development cooperation with the continent of Africa. This also entails playing a major role in shaping the German government's strategy for the 54 countries of Africa. Another regional focus of his work is on the countries of the Near and Middle East.

Mr Silberhorn is also a member of the Council of Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs, SWP) and of the Foundation Board of the German Foundation for Peace Research.

Thomas Silberhorn was born on 12 November 1968 in Kemmern, Germany; he is married with two children. He has been a Member of the German Bundestag since 2002, representing the constituency of Bamberg-Forchheim. At the parliamentary elections in 2013, he won 52.2 per cent of the vote in his constituency.