About me
I am the Ambassador of Germany in Kazakhstan. In my childhood I did not have a dream to become a diplomat, because in my family all teachers: parents, grandparents, uncle. The idea of becoming a diplomat came when I started studying languages. At university I studied English and French. Then I lived in the USA for some time. There I was often asked questions about Germany. I thought it would be good to represent Germany in the world, to tell people about my country. I finished my studies, got a diploma in translation and decided to just try to apply for the diplomatic service to see if I was good enough for it.
I studied for about a year while working as an interpreter. I was lucky, I took the exam and passed. My knowledge of languages helped me. After that I had a two-year course where I studied history, law, and business. After two years I became a diplomat. That was in 1989. And what is remarkable, my group of "young diplomats" was the last one, where all the students were from West Germany. In our first year, the wall came down and Germany united. The next group of "young diplomats" was mixed: students were from both West and East Germany.
About the activities
The first country where I went to serve was Turkey. I was in charge of press and protocol. As they say, "The first country of your assignment will stay in your heart forever, like a first love. You will remember it always and never forget it. Since then I have been coming to Turkey often and it is a great pleasure for me to spend time there.
I then worked in Bolivia, Algeria and Israel, where I was Deputy Ambassador. A position that helps to learn the whole work of an embassy from the inside.
In the US, I worked in the political sector at the German Permanent Mission to the UN in New York. I worked with the Security Council files of African countries, where there were many conflicts at that time. Many UN peacekeeping missions were sent to the region. It was an interesting period of my life.
In Kyrgyzstan I became Ambassador for the first time and lived there for four years. Kazakhstan is my seventh country of assignment. My main task here is to work to make relations between Kazakhstan and Germany better every day.
About Central Asia
I have lived in Astana for two and a half years and in Central Asia for six and a half years. What impressed me most about Central Asia is the people. They are open, kind and friendly. The hospitality they talk about is real. People try to help you, try to make you feel welcome.
The concept of family is another thing I like here. Family in Central Asia is important for a person, family members always help each other and support each other.
Our countries are thousands of kilometers apart, but we have a lot in common. There are many people here who have friends and families in Germany. Some have visited our country as tourists, some for study or work. It is a great pleasure for me to be Ambassador to Kazakhstan.
About your work in Central Asia
There are several main areas of cooperation between our countries. One of the most important is economic and business relations. There are many areas where German companies work in Kazakhstan: medical, pharmaceutical, construction.
Another direction of cooperation is education. There are 17 schools in Kazakhstan where the German language is studied. Many schoolchildren learn the language in order to pass the test. After all, if they have sufficient knowledge of the language, they can continue their studies in Germany.
Also in the last two years I have noticed that the number of universities that want to cooperate with Germany is growing. There is also a growing interest among representatives of German universities who come to Central Asia to do more joint projects. We are happy about this and we contribute in every possible way to the creation of such a partnership.
The German-Kazakh University is actively involved in the establishment of a sustainable development faculty in Aktau. We also hope to establish something similar at one of the technical universities in Ust-Kamenogorsk in the near future.
We have a German academic exchange program DAAD, which regularly provides scholarships for students from Central Asia. Also, some universities in Kazakhstan have international exchange programs in cooperation with German universities.
This summer Germany will host the European Football Championship Euro-2024. And in honor of this we plan to hold several small events in Kazakhstan. For example, a master class for young soccer players. So that through these events Kazakhstanis can also take part in such an important tournament for us.
