Niels Annen has been State Secretary of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) since May 2025. Prior to that, he served as Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development from 2021 to 2025. From 2018 to 2021, he was Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office. Annen was a member of the German Bundestag from 2005 to 2025. He holds a Master of International Public Policy from Johns Hopkins University in Washington, D.C., USA. His areas of expertise include Latin America, the Middle East, Afghanistan and the United Nations.