Board of
Advisors

Gunnar Wiegand is a Senior Advisor at Rasmussen Global. He also serves as Visiting Professor at the International Relations and Diplomacy Department of the College of Europe in Bruges and at the Paris School of International Affairs (Sciences Po). In addition, he is a Visiting Distinguished Fellow at the Indo-Pacific Program of the German Marshall Fund (Brussels Office) and a Senior Adviser and Member of the Strategic Board of the European Policy Centre.

From 2016 to 2023, Gunnar Wiegand was EU Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific at the European External Action Service (EEAS). In this role, he played a central part in shaping key EU policy orientations, including the EU strategies on relations with China (2019) and India (2018), the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific (2021), and the EU–Asia Connectivity Strategy (2018), which contributed to the launch of the Global Gateway initiative. He served as the EU’s Chief Negotiator for the EU–Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement and led negotiations establishing the EU–ASEAN Strategic Partnership in 2021.

Previously, he was Director for Russia, Eastern Partnership, Central Asia and OSCE at the EEAS (2011–2015), and earlier Director for Eastern Europe, Southern Caucasus and Central Asia at the European Commission (DG External Relations) from 2008 to 2010. In these roles, he acted as Chief Negotiator for the Association Agreements with Georgia, Moldova and Armenia, as well as for the Enhanced Partnership and Cooperation Agreement with Kazakhstan. He also negotiated the EU–Ukraine Association Agenda, served as Deputy Chief Negotiator for a new EU–Russia framework agreement, and coordinated the EU–Russia Partnership for Modernisation.

Gunnar Wiegand has worked at the European Commission since 1990 in a wide range of external relations and trade policy roles, including as Desk Officer for the external aspects of German reunification, Project Manager under the TACIS programme, Policy Assistant to the Director-General for Trade, Spokesman for External Relations to Commissioner Chris Patten, and Head of Unit for relations with the United States and Canada, and later with Russia and the Northern Dimension.

Among his publications to be highlighted:

The EU and its Eastern Partnership: political association and economic integration in a rough neighbourhood “ with Evelina Schulz –published in: European Yearbook of International Economic Law, EYIEL 6 (2015), Springer International, Switzerland, pp. 321 – 358.