After consultation with Chancellor Merkel, Federal Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle has made the following personnel decisions. The Federal Cabinet is due to formally deal with this issue on 31 March.

1. Hans-Ulrich Klose is to be appointed Coordinator of German-American Cooperation. He has been a Member of the German Bundestag since 1983, Chairman of the German-American Parliamentary Friendship Group since 2003 and is currently the Deputy Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

2. Markus Löning is to become the new Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office. He was a Member of the German Bundestag from 2002 to 2009 and has been active in the sphere of human and civil rights issues for many years.

3. Ambassador Michael Steiner is to be the new Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is currently serving as Germany’s Ambassador to Italy.

Andreas Schockenhoff, Member of the German Bundestag, has already been appointed Coordinator of German-Russian Intersocietal Cooperation, Minister of State Werner Hoyer, has been made Commissioner for Franco-German Cooperation, while Minister of State Cornelia Pieper has been named Coordinator of German-Polish Intersocietal and Cross-Border Cooperation.