Welcome Message

Welcome to the website of the German Embassy Canberra!

As the German Ambassador to Australia, I am delighted that you are interested in Germany and German-Australian relations.

Germany and Australia have enjoyed close and amicable diplomatic ties for over 60 years. Our aim now is to focus on expanding these links. In late 2015, a high-level Australia-Germany Advisory Group chaired by then Minister of State Professor Maria Böhmer and Australian Finance Minister Mathias Cormann drew up a list of recommendations. My team and I look forward to putting these ideas into practice over the coming years.

Priorities will include developing our political relations and furthering the security dialogue, which is becoming ever more important. We will also focus on cooperation in new areas in order to enable us to meet the economic and social challenges of the future. This includes issues such as digitisation, industry 4.0, start-up development and technological change in the context of the shift to green energy. It is important to me that we have even better bilateral cooperation between business and research in order to develop and apply new technologies.

I regard Australia as being on the growth side of the world. With steady growth of over three percent, it is one of the wealthiest industrialised countries in the world and has constant immigration in 12th place. It is also rich in reserves of natural resources and a global leader in important research fields such as medicine. I believe my most important task is to identify and make use of the opportunities for closer cooperation with Germany. During the coming years, we also aim to foster lasting contacts between people from our two countries in the fields of art, culture, media and sport through targeted projects.

Many of my fellow Germans see the fifth continent as a particularly attractive destination. Almost 30,000 Germans aged under 32 take part in Australia’s Working Holiday programme each year. Young people in particular are closer to your country than ever before, thanks to rapid communication via the internet, opportunities to study or do an internship in Australia, and the growing number of flights available. I am very happy about that.

Here in Canberra, my team and I see ourselves as an interface and intermediary between Germany and Australia, both in personal contact and through this website. So, please, have a look at our website and find out more about our work, interesting events and the services we provide. If you have any questions or ideas, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. We look forward to your feedback!

Dr Anna Prinz

Ambassador

Curriculum Vitae

Dr Prinz was awarded a doctorate in Political Science at the University of Göttingen in Germany and holds a Master in Public Administration from Harvard University (M.P.A. Harvard, Kennedy School). She began her diplomatic career in 1986. Since then, she has held various postings at German Embassies, including in Colombo, Bucharest and Jakarta. Dr Prinz has also held other positions such as Deputy Head of the task force on EU-Enlargement, Media Commissioner and Ambassador for Science Policy in Berlin. Before coming to Australia she served as Deputy Ambassador in Tokyo and as Ambassador to Slovenia in Ljubljana.

One main focus of her work in Australia is supporting the initiatives of the high-ranking Australia-Germany Advisory Group - deepening and strengthening bilateral relations and exchange. This includes intensifying the Security Dialogue as well as working together on challenges of the future such as digitalization, industry 4.0, startups, technological change, energy transition and further cooperation in innovative Research.