Gudrun Kopp

Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development

Dear Reader,

As a member of my country's national parliament with experience of international politics, I am delighted that I now have the opportunity to make use of my knowledge in my new office as Parliamentary State Secretary. At the same time, I look forward to learning many new things. New departures sharpen our faculties for taking an objective look at things and often lead us to unexpected and innovative ideas and ventures.

With this in mind, I am full of enthusiasm and am tackling my work with the requisite openness and positive attitude towards people from other countries and cultural backgrounds. It is a particular concern of mine that we provide the kind of support that will help people to help themselves and that we respect people’s personal dignity.

Here is my curriculum vitae, which provides more detailed information.

Curriculum vitae

of Gudrun Kopp, Member of the German Bundestag

Personal details

Born in Klosterneudorf in the Gardelegen (Altmark) district on 18 October 1950

Resident in [the State of] North Rhine-Westphalia since 1953

Resident in the town of Lage on the Lippe River, North Rhine-Westphalia

Married, two grown-up children

Professional background

Export manager, interpreter and translator (languages: English and Spanish)
Specialist areas: Economics and Electrical Engineering

Various managerial positions, including in an electrical goods company

Self-employed, freelance work

Regular business contacts with medium-sized companies through family-run business

Political background

Member of the Liberal Party (Free Democratic Party, FDP) since 1975

15 years (1979 to 1994) as Town Council Member for Lage on the Lippe River
Main areas of political activity: financial and economic policies

Chairperson of the Finance Committee; leader of the parliamentary party group

10 years (1994 to 2004) as Member of the Lippe Greater District Assembly

Offices held in the FDP political party

1990–1994: Chief Executive of Lage conurbation

1993–1996: Chairperson of the Lippe district party organisation

since 1995: Chairperson of the East Westphalia-Lippe Borough

since 1996: Member of the FDP Executive Board of the Land [state] of North Rhine-Westphalia

Delegate at the FDP’s party conferences at district, Land [state] and national level

1998–2009: Member of both the North Rhine-Westphalia regional and the national parliamentary committees on business and labour affairs.

Member of the German Bundestag

Constituency:
Lippe 1, East Westphalia-Lippe in North Rhine-Westphalia (constituency no. 136)
Member of the German Bundestag since 27 September 1998 (from the 14th electoral term onwards)

1998–2002 (14th electoral term):
Spokesperson for the FDP parliamentary group on consumer policies
Regular member of the Parliamentary Committee on Business and Technology
Member and Spokesperson for the Study Commission on Globalization of the World Economy
2001: Delegate at the WTO Conference in Doha

2002–2005 (15th electoral term):
Spokesperson for the FDP parliamentary group on energy and consumer issues
Regular member of the Parliamentary Committee on Business and Labour Affairs
2003: Delegate at the WTO Conference in Cancún

2005–2009 (16th electoral term):
Spokesperson for the FDP parliamentary group on energy and international trade issues
Regular member of the Parliamentary Committee on Business and Technology
Regular Member of the Sub-Committee on Regional Economic Policy
Alternate Member of the Parliamentary Committee on the Affairs of the European Union
Alternate Member of the Parliamentary Committee on Transport, Building and Urban Affairs
Member of the Advisory Council at the Federal Network Agency for Electricity, Gas, Telecommunications, Post and Railway
2005: Delegate at the WTO Conference in Hong Kong

since 28 October 2009: Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development

Other information:

During the 16th electoral term (2005 to 2009), I was a member of the following parliamentary and parliamentary interest groups:

British-German parliamentary group

Central American-German parliamentary group

Japanese-German parliamentary group

Chinese-German parliamentary group

Discussion group on Tibet

Group of "Christians in the FDP parliamentary group"

Senior Member of the Dr. hc. Pe. Wilhelm Rossmann Foundation in Lemgo for the Promotion of the (Visually) Impaired, Education, Training and Health in Peru

Also a member of the following associations and organisations:
Philharmonic Society East Westphalia-Lippe, German Red Cross, St. John’s Ambulance, German Society for the Protection of Children, Twinning Association of the Towns of Lage and Horsham (England), Detmold and Zeitz Town Twinning Association

Member of hospice movement in the Lippe district

Member of the Local Heritage Trust of the Lippe district

Member of the Local Heritage Trust and Tourist Board of Lage-Hörste

Member of the Local Association of Reserve Officers, Augustdorf

Leisure interests/activities

Yoga, contemporary painting, archaeology (in particular ancient Mesoamerican civilisations), psychology and rock music