Karsten Warnecke

Executive Director, ASEF,

Ambassador Karsten Warnecke is the executive director of the Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) in charge of the management and administration of the organisation, the implementation of its programmes and policies, and representing the organisation.

Before joining ASEF, Ambassador Warnecke dealt mainly with Germany’s and the EU’s involvement in ASEAN and in the ASEM Process as part of his portfolio as Counsellor at the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, where he served as Deputy Head of Division for Regional Organizations and Cooperation in Asia-Pacific.

He previously worked as a diplomat with over 25 years of experience, including almost 20 years with Asia. Former postings have seen him serve in the German Consulates-General in New York, USA, and Chennai, India, as well as the German Embassy in Singapore.

Ambassador Warnecke holds an M.A. in International Relations from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of the Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., after studying Political Science at the Free University in Berlin.