Gerhard "Gerd" Müller (born 25 August 1955) is a German politician of the Christian Social Union in Bavaria who has served as Director General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization since 2021. He was German Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development from 2013 to 2021. From 1994 until 2021, Müller represented Oberallgäu in the Bundestag. Political career Müller was chairman of the 's Bavarian section from 1987 until 1991. In this position, his calls in favour of capital punishment for drug dealers caused significant controversy. Between 1989 and 1994, Müller was a Member of the European Parliament, where he served on the Committee on Transport and Tourism and on the Joint Assembly of the Agreement between the African, Caribbean and Pacific States and the European Economic Community (ACP-EEC). From 1994 until 2021, Müller was a member of the German Parliament (Bundestag) for Oberallgäu. He served on the committees for foreign and defense policy and was the spokesman on Europe, foreign, and development policy for the CSU group. Secretary of State at the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, 2005–2013 From 2005 to 2013, Müller served as Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection under ministers Horst Seehofer (2005–2008) and Ilse Aigner (2008–2013) in the first and second cabinets of Chancellor Angela Merkel. In this capacity, he was responsible for international relations, third-world development projects, and world food aid programs, among other issues. In 2011, he participated in the first joint cabinet meeting of the governments of Germany and China in Berlin; his counterpart in the Chinese government at the time was Han Changfu. Following the 2013 federal elections, Müller was part of the CDU/CSU team in the negotiations with the SPD on a coalition agreement. Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, 2013–2021 Since 2013, Müller has been Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development in the third cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel; he was succeeded as Parliamentary State Secretary by Peter Bleser. In February 2014, Müller accompanied German President Joachim Gauck on a state visit to India – where they met with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi, among others – and to Myanmar. In October 2014, Müller co-chaired the Berlin Conference on the Syrian Refugee Situation along with Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres. In November 2014, he and German