Dirk Niebel
Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development

My name is Dirk Niebel. I was born on 29 March 1963 in Hamburg, Germany. In 1983, I joined the airborne infantry and was stationed in Calw in the Black Forest. After serving in the armed forces for eight years, I entered the Federal University of Applied Admin­is­trative Sciences (Departmental Branch for labour admin­istra­tion) in Mannheim. Having gained a degree in public administration (Diplom-Ver­waltungswirt (FH)), I became a placement officer at the job centre in Heidelberg in 1993. My wife, Andrea, and I have been married since 1990. She works as a self-employed speech therapist. We have three sons.

I believe that choice and personal responsibility are preferable to bureaucratic regulations, government interference in people's privacy and government provision for all conceivable eventuali­ties. I am politically active because I want to ensure that my children's generation will still be able to look forward to a bright future.

I was one of the founders of the Heidelberg Young Liberals group (Junge Liberale, JuLis). Since September 1998, I have been a member of the German Parliament for the Free Democratic Party (FDP), representing Constituency No. 274, Heidelberg-Weinheim. I hope that the new government will successfully implement its ambitious agenda so that Germany can once again move forward.

In 1998, I was made the FDP Parliamentary Group's spokes­person on labour market policy, not least because of my professional background. I was a member of the Parliamentary Committee on Labour and Social Affairs. For many years now, efforts to fight unemployment and to chart the future course of Germany's social security systems have been central issues on the domestic policy agenda. My work has focused on general and specific issues relating to labour market policy, to employment promotion, and to unemployment insurance. In November 2006, I became a substitute member of the defence committee, a post I had also held previously.

From 2003 to 2009, I was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom. In that capacity, I have been focusing on the further development of labour market policy strategies. In December 2009, I joined the Board of Trustees of the Christian Liebig Foundation.

As I am Vice President of the German-Israeli Association and Deputy Chairman of the German-Israeli Parliamentary Friendship Group, peace in the Middle East is a concern that is particularly close to my heart.

In April 2009, the then Federal President Horst Köhler appointed me to the Board of Trustees for the President Friedrich Ebert Memorial. I consider it a great honour and duty to help keep alive the memory of a man who served Germany as a successful head of state in very difficult times, who always considered himself a representative of all the people of our country, and who is one of the founding fathers of democracy in Germany.

From May 2005 until my appointment as Development Minister, I served as General Secretary of the FDP. My primary responsibility in that capacity was to manage the Free Democrats' election campaign. I am excited about the new and challenging field of work which I am about to take on, and I would be grateful for as much support as possible in discharging my duties in an area that is of such importance to society.