NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF GERMANY PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNOG

Reinhard Schweppe, the new Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his credentials to Sergei Ordzhonikidze, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Schweppe had been serving, since March 2003, as Germany’s Ambassador to Poland. From 1999 to 2003, he was Head of the European Directorate-General of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. He served as Deputy Director General of the General European Department in the Foreign Office in Bonn, from 1997 to 1999, and from 1993 to 1997 he was the Director of the European Department there.

Following a brief academic career as a law professor starting in 1972, Mr. Schweppe entered the German Foreign Service in 1975. He then served in Germany’s embassies in Pretoria and Capetown in South Africa (1977-1980), and in Brussels to the European Community (1980-1983). He returned to Germany to serve as Chief of Staff of the State Secretary in Bonn from 1983 to 1986. Later he served as Counsellor at the German Embassy in Washington, D.C. (1986-1990), and in New Delhi (1990-1993).

Mr. Schweppe studied law and economics at Freiburg and Hamburg Universities in Germany.

Born in Westphalia on 2 April 1949, Mr. Schweppe is married with three children.


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