November 17, 2005     [INVITATION ONLY]

Consul General Hans-Joerg Brunner
Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany
Atlanta, GA

Topic:  German-U.S. Political and Economic Relations in View of the Recent Changes in the Government in Germany.

Hans-Joerg Brunner assumed his functions as Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany on January 10, 2003 in Atlanta.

Mr. Brunner studied French and English at Regensburg University and the Sorbonne in Paris.  He passed his qualifying examinations as a high school teacher in 1979 and 1981.  In 1982, he joined the German Diplomatic Service.

After two years at the Diplomatic School in Bonn, he was assigned to the German Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, where he stayed from 1984-1987 during the Iran-Iraq war.  He was the Head of the Legal and Consular Section of the Embassy; and in this function, also in charge of all crisis management measures for the German Community.  From 1987-1989, he worked as Consul for Press Affairs and Public Relations at the German Consulate General in Boston.

From 1989-1992, he was called to the Protocol Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bonn, section “official and state visits”.

From 1992-1997, he served as Deputy Ambassador in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where he was in charge of the Economic Section and Aid to Development.

From 1997-2003, he directed the “Internal Service” of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bonn and Berlin, where he was in charge of the entire technical and logistical infrastructure of the Ministry, real estate, construction works, the diplomatic courier service, conference facilities and security.  In this function, Mr. Brunner also coordinated all construction works for the new premises of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Berlin and subsequently organized in 1999, the move of the Foreign Ministry from Bonn to Berlin.