Niels Annen (born 6 April 1973) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who was appointed Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development in the coalition government of Chancellor Olaf Scholz in 2021.

In 2009, Annen obtained a bachelor's degree in history from the Humboldt University of Berlin, with a thesis on the resettlement of Baltic Germans during World War 2.

[13] He also serves as chairman of the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Relations with the States of South Asia, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

[16] In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, he was part of the working group on foreign policy, led by Ursula von der Leyen, Gerd Müller and Sigmar Gabriel.

[19] In March 2018, Annen was appointed Minister of State at the German Federal Foreign Office in the fourth Merkel Cabinet, alongside Michael Roth and Michelle Müntefering.

[22] In September 2024, the German government nominated Niels Annen as a candidate for the position of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

This role, among the most critical within the United Nations due to the escalating global refugee crisis, was held by Italian diplomat Filippo Grandi since January 2016.

[33] In a speech on 23 April 2015, after his return from the visit, Annen said that, amidst some negative developments, there were clear positive trends visible in Afghanistan especially regarding rising rates of school enrolment and the state of democratic elections.

Following statements by the Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), General Philip M. Breedlove, on troop advances on the border between Russia and Ukraine in early 2015, Annen publicly complained that "NATO in the past has always announced a new Russian offensive just as, from our point of view, the time had come for cautious optimism."

[38][39] Annen has in the past voted in favor of German participation in United Nations peacekeeping missions as well as in United Nations-mandated European Union peacekeeping missions on the African continent, such as in Somalia – Operation Atalanta (2014) and EUTM Somalia (2015 and 2016) –, Darfur/Sudan (2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018), South Sudan (2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018), the Central African Republic (2014) and Mali – both MINUSMA (2014, 2017 and 2018) and EUTM Mali (2015 and 2018).

[43] Annen rejected American plans to supply arms to Ukrainian forces stating that it "would be a dangerous step towards the escalation of the Ukraine conflict.

In an interview with Das Parlament on 15 September 2014, he underlined the relevance of the conflict for Germany, stating that the risk of terrorist attacks had risen as the result of German IS-fighters returning from the battlefield.

[45] Annen also considered the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad partially responsible for the formation and strength of Islamic State, and warned of legitimizing Assad as the lesser evil in the conflict.