08/04/2003 OHR Sarajevo

Ambassador Wnendt Takes Over as Senior Deputy High Representative

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The High Representative, Paddy Ashdown, welcomes Ambassador Werner Wnendt as the new Senior Deputy High Representative. Ambassador Wnendt takes over today from Ambassador Gerhard Enver Schrömbgens.

The High Representative wishes to commend Ambassador Schrömbgens for the diligence and flair he brought to a broad range of responsibilities. Among the key peace-implementation areas in which Ambassador Schrömbgens has made a signal contribution are refugee return and institution-building, including education reform and the continuing reorganisation of the BiH armed forces to prepare them for participation in NATO’s Partnership for Peace and reduce their disproportionate share of the Entity budgets. Ambassador Wnendt will take over these and other responsibilities from Ambassador Schrömbgens.

Ambassador Wnendt joined the German Foreign Service in 1980 and has served in Asia and North America, as well as in Brussels and Berlin. From 1991 to 1995, while serving with the German Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels, Ambassador Wnendt was a member of the EU’s working group on the peace process in former Yugoslavia. Most recently, he was Deputy Head of the Foreign Affairs Division in the Office of the Federal President in Berlin, responsible for European Integration, Europe and CIS-Countries. He is married and has five children.

For details of Ambassador Wnendt’s CV, please see OHR website.