Rüdiger Freiherr von Fritsch is currently the Director General for Economic Affairs and Sustainable Development at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin and G8 Sous-Sherpa. Born in Siegen, Westphalia in 1953, Rüdiger von Fritsch studied history and German language and literature. In 1984, he entered the Foreign Service and was then stationed at the German Embassy in Warsaw (1986) and in Nairobi (1989) as a political desk officer as well as a press and cultural affairs officer. From 1992 - 1995, he worked in the Federal Foreign Office, Press Division, and from 1995 to 1999, as a desk officer in Brussels with Germany's Permanent Representation to the European Union. Between 1999 and 2004, he was Head of Policy Planning and Deputy Head of the Directorate-General for Home Affairs at the Office of the Federal President. Before assuming his present position, he was Vice-President of the Federal Intelligence Service for three years (2004-2007).