The Annual General Meeting of The Consular Corps of Queensland was held on the 15 March 2022 and it was announced that the Office Bearers for 2022-23 are as follows:

Dean: Mr Daniel Gschwind  Hon Consul of Switzerland

Deputy Dean : Dean Mr Michal Horvath  Hon. Consul of Slovakia

Secretary: Prof Michael Rosemann  Hon. Consul of Germany

Treasurer: Mrs Diana Lopes  Hon. Consul of Portugal

Committee Member: Mr Peter Dowling AM  Hon. Consul of Botswana

Committee Member: Mrs Archana Singh  Hon. Consul of India

Committee Member: Mrs Sandra Micallef  Hon. Consul of Malta

To the Members of The Consular Corps of Queensland

Dear colleagues,

It is a great honour to be your Dean for the coming 12 months. On your behalf, I extend our gratitude to our former Dean, Anton Swan OAM and his Committee for the excellent work they have done under the most challenging circumstances, and we thank you. Hopefully, we can put the problems of 2020 behind us and look positively into the future.

It gives me great pleasure, to introduce our new Executive Committee, as presented during our Annual General Meeting on 20 April 2021, to you.

• Dean – Irina Bruk, Russian Honorary Consul-General in Queensland and Victoria. I have been in this role since June 2007. Before that, I was for three years the Russian Honorary Consul Designate. My background is in International Business. I am holding a Bachelor Degree in Information Technology and Library Science and a Post-Graduate Diploma in Diplomatic Protocol and Consular Affairs from the Russian Academy of Diplomacy.

• Vice-Dean – Mr Daniel Gschwind, Honorary Consul Switzerland since April 2008.

• Secretary – Prof Michael Rosemann, Honorary Consul Federal Republic of Germany since May 2016.

• Treasurer – Diana Lopes, Honorary Consul Portugal since December 2015.

• Member - Michal Horvath, Honorary Consul Slovakia since July 2008.

• Member - Peter Tobin, Honorary Consul Norway since October 1998.

Furthermore, we will have the following two sub-sommittees

• Web management - Sandra Micallef, Honorary Consul Malta since November 2016.

• Domestic Violence- Margaret Grummitt, Honorary Consul Philippines since December 2015.

Yours sincerely,

Ms Irina Bruk

Dean of The Consular Corps of Queensland

8 May 2021

The next Annual General Meeting is planned for Wednesday 31st March 2021 at the United Service Club, Spring Hill. 

During the global pandemic of COVID-19, there has been a general demand from the Consular Corps members, for assistance with their nationals' repatriation logistics. Due to the lack of information available at the time, Mr Gunther deGraeve, Hon Consul for Belgium and Prof Michael Rosemann, Hon Consul for Germany, organised digital meetings for the members of the Consular Corps to discuss mutual difficulties being faced and possible solutions. The meetings are held daily at 12noon and have been a good resource of information for all members. Mr Anton Swan acknowledged the beneficial work being done by the Taskforce, and congratulated Michael and Gunther for their initiative.