Ambassador Irene Giner-Reichl

President and Advisor, Global Women Network

Global Sustainable Forum

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Irene Giner-Reichl has been a member of the Austrian Diplomatic Service since 1982. Her main areas of expertise are economic and social development, women’s rights’ issues, environment, energy, and development cooperation.

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Irene Giner-Reichl has held numerous international bureau functions. From 1995 to 1998 she was director of the international department of the Austrian Ministry for the Environment. From 1998 to 2001 she was Austria’s permanent representative to the UN, IAEA, UNIDO and CTBTO in Vienna. From 2001 to 2004 she headed the UNIDO office in New York in the rank of assistant director general. From 2005 to 2012 she was director general in charge of Austria’s development policy and cooperation.

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Since 2012, she held the position of Austrian ambassador to the People’s Republic of China and Mongolia until recently when she transitioned to her current position.

Irene Giner-Reichl is president of the Global Forum on Sustainable Energy (GFSE), which she founded in 1999 as a multi-stake-holder platform for dialogues on energy in the service of sustainable development, and vice-president of the REN21 steering committee.

She has published books and articles on international relations and global issues. She has lectured at the Diplomatic Academy in Vienna for several years on human security and development policy.