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About the Chairperson

© UNESCO

Michael Worbs is committed to UNESCO’s mandate in the fields of Education, the Sciences, Culture, and Communication and Information. He was elected as Chairperson of the Executive Board for a mandate from 2015 to 2017. Equally, he is the Representative of Germany to the Board. From 2012 to 2016 he was Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Germany to UNESCO.

He has previous experience with the organization: from 1997 to 2001 he was Deputy Permanent Delegate of Germany to UNESOC. He gained particular experience in the FA Commission and was involved in the reform of UNESCO. He participated in the elaboration of the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and led the German Delegation during the final meeting of Governmental Experts on the Draft Convention.

Michael Worbs was born on 14 September 1950 in Ulm (Germany). He studied Political Science, History and German Literature in Frankfurt/Main and Berlin and completed Advanced Studies of Comparative Literature in Berlin, Vienna, Paris and Rome. In 1980, he received a doctorate from the Technical University of Berlin (supervisor: Walter Höllerer). He has published several books and articles on Literature and Psychoanalysis, Arts and Literature of the Fin de Siècle, Literary History of Rome and Media Policy.

Previous functions:

In 1981 Michael Worbs entered the foreign service and joined the Diplomatic School in Bonn.

From 1983 to 1986 he gained initial experience abroad as Press and Cultural Attaché at the German Embassy in Khartoum (Sudan).

In 1986 he became Deputy Head of Mission in Beirut (Lebanon). He then became desk officer for Lebanon, Syria and Jordan in the Middle East Division of the Federal Foreign Office in Bonn.

In 1989 he was sent as the first German diplomat to the “Farnesina” in Rome (Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) and was assigned to the Disarmament Division in the context of an exchange of diplomats between Rome and Bonn. In 1991 he was appointed Deputy Head of the Economics Department of the German Embassy in Rome and was sent as Chargé d’Affaires ad interim to Tirana (Albania).

From 1992 to 1994 he was Deputy Head of the German Embassy in Kiev (Ukraine).

From 1994 to 1997 he was Deputy Head of the Media Policy Division at the Federal Foreign Office in Bonn.

In 1997 he was sent to Paris for the first time as Deputy Delegate of Germany to UNESCO.

In 2001 he was appointed Head of the Economics Department of the German Embassy in Brasilia (Brazil) and served as Consul-General ad interim in São Paulo (Brazil).

In 2004 he was seconded to DaimlerChrysler in Stuttgart (Germany). From 2005 to 2007 he took temporary leave from the Federal Foreign Office and was appointed Director for Policy and Foreign Affairs (Eastern Europe) by the CEO of the company.

In 2007 he returned to the Federal Foreign Office and was appointed German Ambassador to Kuwait.

In 2010 he returned to Brazil and was appointed Consul-General in Rio de Janeiro.

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