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Chancellor Merkel, Advisor Heusgen (right): Close confidante
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Kay Nietfeld / dpa
Former diplomat Christoph Heusgen is to become the new chairman of the Munich Security Conference (MSC).
The incumbent MSC boss Wolfgang Ischinger told the »Handelsblatt« that it was »time to transfer operational management to younger hands«.
He proposed Heusgen to the MSC Board of Trustees as his successor.
"He will take over after the next conference in February 2022."
Twelve years at Merkel's side
The 66-year-old Heusgen was foreign policy advisor to Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) from 2005 to 2017 and was considered one of her closest confidants.
He then moved to New York as the German ambassador to the United Nations.
His term of office ended at the end of June.
Since then he has been traded as a candidate for the successor to Ischinger.
The MSC takes place annually in the Hotel Bayerischer Hof in Munich.
As an international conference on foreign and security policy issues, it has an excellent reputation worldwide.
Former US Ambassador Ischinger has chaired the conference since 2008. He wants to remain chairman of the MSC Board of Trustees.
sms / dpa