The former Sri Lankan Honorary Consul Mr. Klaus Dames-Willers died on 27th January 2018. Mr. Klaus Dames-Willers served as the Honorary Consul of Sri Lanka for the German Federal States of Bremen and Lower Saxony from 1992 to 2002.
From 1965 - 1974 Mr. Dames-Willers had been Managing Director of Diesel & Motor Engineering Company Limited, representing the German companies Mercedes-Benz, Bosch, Siemens, MTU and others in Sri Lanka. In 1979 he founded Lanka Consult Ltd. for the promotion of foreign investments in Sri Lanka, with emphasis on export-oriented industries in the newly established Free Trade Zones. These activities have helped in creating about 10, 000 employment opportunities with an annual export production output of over 150 million US$. He was the founder chairman of the Sri Lanka German Association. He is a charter member of Rotary Club Colombo North and was the club president in 1970/71.
in 1992 Mr. Dames-Willers was appointed Honarary Consul in recognition of his contribution to promote and foster Sri Lanka-German bilateral relations. During his tenure of office, Bremen has once again become one of the major consular locations for Sri Lanka in Germany, as in the late 19th century, when Philipp Freudenberg from Bremen represented the German Empire in Colombo. Still existing Freudenberg & Company served as birth cell for the DIMO group, one of the large trade and industrial conglomerates of today, quoted on the Colombo Stock Exchange.
During his tenure of office Mr. Dames-Willers organized a special exhibition in Bremen to celebrate the 50 years of independence of Sri Lanka. On a total of 3 occasions Sri Lanka was the theme and principal focus of the annual foundation celebration of the Asia Pacific Society (OAV) in Bremen, the oldest and most prestigious friendship society between Germany and Asia founded in 1901.
The consulate in Bremen was also an active participant in many Trade Promotion Seminars organized regularly in varying venues in collaboration with different federal chambers of commerce and industry and the Sri Lankan Embassy. The Embassy of Sri Lanka in Berlin remembers Mr. Dames-Willers as a great friend of Sri Lanka.