Katja AFHELDT – Master’s in Business Administration – University of Hamburg, 1989; Diploma in International Relations – Free University of Brussels, 1993.

She joined the European institutions in 1989. At the European Commission, she held various positions working on issues related to trade, cooperation, and political aspects of external relations with different regions of the world, including Eastern Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

Since the creation of the European External Action Service in 2010, she was appointed Political Adviser to the Executive Director for the Americas and later Head of Division for Training and Professional Development. From 2017 to 2021, she was Head of Division responsible for relations with Mexico, Central America, and the Caribbean. She was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the European Union to the Dominican Republic, where she served from September 2021 to August 2025. Since September 2025, she has been Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the European Union to Paraguay.

She speaks German, English, French, and Spanish.