Opening

Franz-B. Marré

Head of Division (Water; Urban Development; Transport)

German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

Born 1956 in Bogotá, Colombia, Franz Marré joined the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) in 1989 after having studied Law in Bonn. Since 2014 he is head of the division responsible for Water, Urban Development and Transport, which also includes Waste Management and cross-sectorial issues (the “Nexus”). Hitherto, he headed the BMZ Infrastructure Division.

Prior positions in the BMZ includedthe Southeast Asia section (inter alia, coordination of the German Post-Tsunami reconstruction assistance in the Indian Ocean), the Organisation division, the Latin America desk (desk officer for Peru, Ecuador and Colombia) and private sector cooperation.

He was posted in Washington, DC at the Interamerican Development Bank 1991–1992 and served as Development Counsellor at the German Embassy in Pretoria from 1994 to 1998.