Prof. Christoph Heusgen

Speaker at the St. Gallen Symposium

Christoph Heusgen is the former Chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC), a position he held from 2022 until the conclusion of the 61st Munich Security Conference in 2025. Before assuming that role, he served as Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations in New York from 2017 to 2021, chairing the UN Security Council in April 2019 and July 2020. From 2005 to 2017, Ambassador Heusgen advised Chancellor Angela Merkel on foreign and security policy and led the Foreign Policy Department of the Federal Chancellery as Director General. From 1999 to 2005, he headed the political staff of Javier Solana, then High Representative for the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy. Earlier in his career, he served as Head of the Europe Division at the Federal Foreign Office (1997–1999), following his role in the ministerial office of Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel (1993–1997). In 1988, he was appointed Personal Assistant to the Coordinator for Franco-German Cooperation, after previous postings at the German Consulate in Chicago and the German Embassy in Paris. Ambassador Heusgen joined the German Foreign Service in 1980. He studied at the University of St.Gallen, Georgia Southern College in the United States, and the Sorbonne in Paris, earning his doctorate at the University of St.Gallen, where he is an honorary professor and currently teaches political science.