Gerd Müller, Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) as of 10 December 2021, has had various leadership positions from an early stage in his career.

Between 1980 and 1989, he was a teacher at vocational schools and a civil servant at the Bavarian Ministry of Economic Affairs. From 1989 to 1994, he served as a Member of the European Parliament, during which time he was a member of the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly.

Between 1994 and 2021, he served as a Member of the Parliament of the Federal Republic of Germany, and as a member of the Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs and Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development.

In 2005, he was appointed Deputy Minister at the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, in charge of international relations, development projects and world food affairs.

In 2013, he was appointed Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, a position he held until 2021.

Gerd Müller has many years of experience in the fields of multilateral cooperation, sustainability and innovative agriculture. Key focus areas of his work are the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the Paris Agreement on climate change, the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the Beijing Declaration on Gender Equality. Furthermore, he is a strong advocate of fair trade, and initiated legislation in Germany and the European Union on social and environmental standards along supply chains.