A lawyer by training, Dr. Helge Elisabeth Zeitler has been since April 2024 Director for UN and EU affairs, also covering G7/20 and trade, at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development. Prior to this post, she held different positions in the international directorate of the European Commission’s Environment Department, with topics ranging from deforestation-free supply chains and international water policy to environmental cooperation at the UN and under various multilateral agreements. Helge Zeitler also served in the past at the EU Delegation to the UN in New York, at the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Tanzania and at the German Foreign Ministry.