The Embassy of Australia in Berlin

Contact

Address: Gertrude-Froehlich-Sandner-Str. 2, 1100 Vienna, Austria

Tel.: +49431506740

E-mail: vienna.embassy@dfat.gov.au

https://austria.embassy.gov.au

The Ambassador

Mr Ian Biggs

Ambassador_Austria_-_Australia.jpg

Mr Biggs is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and was most recently Ambassador for Arms Control and Counter-Proliferation. He has previously served overseas as Ambassador to Iran, Türkiye and Saudi Arabia, as Deputy Head of Mission in India, Austria and Syria, and as Special Assistant to the IAEA Director General.

Mr Biggs holds a Masters in International Relations from the Australian National University and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Sydney. He speaks Arabic.

History

Australia and Austria first established diplomatic relations in 1966, and celebrated 70 years of ties in 2022 . The Australian Embassy in Vienna also serves as Australia's Permanent Mission to the United Nations and other international organizations based there, including the IAEA, CTBTO, UNODC, and the OSCE, giving the relationship a strong multilateral dimension alongside bilateral ties; the same embassy is also accredited to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Slovakia, and Slovenia. In September 2021, the two countries signed a Strategic Cooperation Arrangement covering trade and investment, foreign and security policy, climate and energy, and education and culture. Two-way investment between Australia and Austria reached roughly $9.4 billion in 2023, with cooperation extending to net-zero and industrial decarbonization initiatives. The embassy is also active culturally, regularly promoting Australian arts, First Nations perspectives, and sporting ties, and jointly hosts an annual Anzac Day dawn service with the New Zealand Embassy in Vienna.