Carl-Hermann Gustav "Calle" Schlettwein (born 13 June 1954) is a

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n politician who has served in the country's cabinet since 2012. In March 2020, he was appointed the Minister of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform after serving as the

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

from 2015 to 2020 and previously as the

Minister of Trade and Industry A Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry or variations is a ministry that is concerned with a nation's trade, industry and commerce. Notable examples are: List *Algeria: Ministry of Industry and ...

from 2012 to 2015.

Early life

Schlettwein is of German Namibian descent. He attended the

Deutsche Höhere Privatschule Windhoek The ''Deutsche Höhere Privatschule'' (DHPS) is a bilingual private school in Namibia. Situated in the capital Windhoek, The DHPS also offers boarding school facilities, a kindergarten and pre-school and primary and secondary grades from Grade ...

. Between 1974 and 1980 Schlettwein studied

Entomology Entomology () is the science, scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term "insect" was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such ...

Zoology Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

and

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

at the

University of Stellenbosch Stellenbosch University ( af, Universiteit Stellenbosch) is a public research university situated in Stellenbosch, a town in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Stellenbosch is the oldest university in South Africa and the oldest extant ...

. Later he worked as researcher in the Department of Water Affairs.

Career

Beginning at

Namibian Independence The history of Namibia has passed through several distinct stages from being colonised in the late nineteenth century to Namibia's independence on 21 March 1990. From 1884, Namibia was a German colony: German South West Africa. After the First W ...

in 1990, Schlettwein served as

permanent secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

in various ministries. After seven years of deployment in the Ministry of Finance, President

Hifikepunye Pohamba Hifikepunye Lucas Pohamba (born 18 August 1936) is a Namibian politician who served as the second president of Namibia from 21 March 2005 to 21 March 2015. He won the 2004 presidential election overwhelmingly as the candidate of SWAPO, and was ...

appointed Schlettwein to the National Assembly as one of the six non-voting Members of Parliament appointed by the President for the term that began in March 2010. He was then appointed as Deputy Minister of Finance in 2010. In a

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

reshuffle following the 2012

SWAPO The South West Africa People's Organisation (, SWAPO; af, Suidwes-Afrikaanse Volks Organisasie, SWAVO; german: Südwestafrikanische Volksorganisation, SWAVO), officially known as the SWAPO Party of Namibia, is a political party and former ind ...

congress, Schlettwein was promoted to Minister of Trade and Industry on 4 December 2012. In this position, he became the first white senior cabinet member since the early post-independence years. Under president

Hage Geingob Hage Gottfried Geingob (born 3 August 1941) is a Namibian politician, serving as the third president of Namibia since 21 March 2015. Geingob was the first Prime Minister of Namibia from 1990 to 2002, and served as prime minister again from 2012 ...

, Schlettwein was moved to the post of

in March 2015. After Geingob's reelection in 2019, Schlettwein was moved to lead the Ministry of Agriculture, Water and Land Reform.

Other activities

African Development Bank The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) or (BAD) is a multilateral development finance institution headquartered in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, since September 2014. The AfDB is a financial provider to African governments and private companies i ...

(AfDB), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2015) *

International Monetary Fund The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major financial agency of the United Nations, and an international financial institution, headquartered in Washington, D.C., consisting of 190 countries. Its stated mission is "working to foster globa ...

(IMF), Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2015) *

Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) is an international financial institution which offers political risk insurance and credit enhancement guarantees. These guarantees help investors protect foreign direct investments against ...

(MIGA),

World Bank Group The World Bank Group (WBG) is a family of five international organizations that make leveraged loans to developing countries. It is the largest and best-known development bank in the world and an observer at the United Nations Development Grou ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2015) *

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Interna ...

, Ex-Officio Member of the Board of Governors (since 2015)

Recognition

Heroes' Day Heroes' Day or National Heroes' Day may refer to a number of commemorations of national heroes in different countries and territories. It is often held on the birthday of a national hero or heroine, or the anniversary of their great deeds that m ...

2014, Schlettwein was conferred the Most Excellent Order of the Eagle, Second Class.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlettwein, Calle 1954 births Living people People from Otjiwarongo Namibian people of German descent White Namibian people SWAPO politicians Finance ministers of Namibia Trade and industry ministers of Namibia Agriculture ministers of Namibia