The Embassy of Guatemala in Berlin

Amb. Jorge Alfredo Lemcke Arevalo

H. E. Jorge Alfredo Lemcke Arevalo was born in 1953, and is married with three children. He has been serving as Ambassador of the Republic of Guatemala to Germany since 1st September 2021.

In 1975 he completed his bachelor’s in Science and Letters at Colegio Liceo, then his master’s in Business Administration in 1984 at University Francisco Marroquin.

Between 1976 and 2004 Arevalo worked as Deputy Director, Operational Manager and Business Area Manager at Cementos Progreso, Homos de Cal y Mezcladora. In 1988 he was Managing Director of Pinturas de Centroamérica, then from 2004 until 2012, the Managing Director and Business Area Manager at Cementos Progreso. Between 2012 and 2014, Arevalo was appointed the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Guatemala in the Netherlands. Until 2020 he fulfilled the position of Director for institutional Relations and Representation at Business Associations for Corporación Energías de Guatemala and Ingenio Madre Tierra.

During the 19^th and 20^th centuries Guatemala had a massive immigration of Germans. The government at that time was led by Justo Rufino Barrios, his government invited foreign investors to produce coffee and Germany was the largest investor at the time. Nowadays, Guatemala has a strong German community, which make up the majority of European immigrants in the state.

Current relations between the two countries are close and friendly. Germany and Guatemala maintain intensive relations in the political, cultural and economic sectors as well as in development cooperation. Germany provides support to Guatamala in a number of areas, including democratic governance with equal opportunities, environmental protection and climate change adaptation and education.

Trade between Guatemala and Germany was worth approximately USD 365 million in 2014. Coffee makes up more than 50 per cent of German imports from Guatemala, followed by tobacco, vegetables and fruit. Guatemala’s main imports from Germany are machinery, chemical and pharmaceutical products and motor vehicles.