Birgitt Ory

Birgitt Ory (born 1964) is a German diplomat who has been Germany's Ambassador-designate to Ethiopia and the African Union since 2025.

From 2019 until 2022, Ory served as the German Ambassador to Nigeria. She was the first woman to serve as Director General of the German Institute Taipei in Taiwan, a post she held from 2008 to 2011.

Early life and education Ory was born in Lübeck in 1964. She graduated from high school in Neustadt in Holstein in 1983 and went on to study political science, communications, and German literature at LMU Munich, where she graduated summa cum laude. She was succeeded by Michael Zickerick as Director-General in 2011, and became the Director of the German Foreign Office's Southeast Asia and Pacific Department. The Buddy Bear, a 2-meter-high sculpture first created in Berlin in 2001, serves as the symbol of Germany's friendship, travelling internationally to promote peace and international understanding.

In February 2010, Ory helped unveil a memorial at 228 Peace Memorial Park honoring victims of the February 28 incident.

Ambassador to Nigeria In September 2019, Ory was appointed as the Ambassador of Germany to Nigeria. She was received by President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria on September 19, 2019, to present her credentials. She was succeeded in 2022 by Annett Günther and went back to Berlin to take up a role in the German Foreign Office.

On 2 May 2020, Ory met with members of the Economic Community of West African States to discuss security measures. Later that month she congratulated Nigeria for holding two major offices in the United Nations, Deputy Secretary General and President of the United Nations General Assembly.

In August 2020, she called for a stronger partnership between the European Union and African nations, particularly Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States. Ory stated that especially since the COVID-19 pandemic had shifted political priorities around the world, economic recovery is crucial.

In September 2020, Ory helped plead on the behalf of the European Union for Nigeria to lift airspace restrictions against KLM, Air France, and Lufthansa. Also that month, she spoke at the opening of a rehabilitation center in Kaduna built by the German Technical Advisory Group as part of Germany's Equipment Aid Programme initiative.