Verena Franziska Zimmer brings over a decade of experience in economic diplomacy across Europe, Asia, and Africa. Based in Stuttgart, Germany, and The Hague, Netherlands, she serves as Country Manager Asia at the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Stuttgart Region. In this role, she advises German businesses on trade, as well as economic and geopolitical developments in the Asia-Pacific region.
Her expertise centers on Asia–EU relations and global security, with a particular focus on China, India, and ASEAN. She serves on the advisory board of ASEANcham-EU and is the regional spokesperson for the Young Leaders of the German Asia-Pacific Business Association (OAV) in Baden-Württemberg. She is also a Non-Resident Fellow at the Indo-Pacific Study Center (IPSC) and Co-Director of the Indo-Pacific Working Group at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).
An alumna of the U.S. State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) on China, she has also been appointed as a German delegate to the 2025 Indo-German Young Leaders Forum in New Delhi and the 2025 NATO Youth Summit in Montenegro. Verena Zimmer holds an MSc in International Relations from the University of Amsterdam, a BA in International Studies from Leiden University, and an Executive Diploma in the Art of Diplomacy from the European Academy of Diplomacy in Warsaw.