5 December 2005

Appointment of APEC Secretariat Executive Director

We have today announced the appointment of Mr Colin Heseltine as Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat in 2007. Mr Heseltine will also serve as Deputy Executive Director in 2006.

Mr Heseltine is well placed to take up these positions having served in three APEC economies since the inception of APEC in 1989 (China, Chinese Taipei and the Republic of Korea). He has dealt extensively with APEC issues during this period, including participating closely in the recent APEC Summit held in Busan, Republic of Korea, in November 2005.

The APEC Secretariat operates in Singapore as the core support mechanism for the APEC process. It provides coordination, technical advisory support and a central project management role. The Secretariat is headed by an Executive Director and a Deputy Executive Director. The practice is for these positions to be filled by Ambassador level representatives of the current and incoming host economies respectively. In the lead up to Australia hosting APEC in 2007, Mr Heseltine will take up the post of Deputy Executive Director in January 2006, and assume the role of Executive Director in January 2007.

Mr Heseltine is a senior staff member of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and is currently Ambassador to the Republic of Korea, a position he has held since August 2001. Mr Heseltine has had extensive experience in North Asia, having served on two occasions as Minister and Deputy Head of Mission in the Australian Embassy in Beijing (1982-85 and 1988-92). He was also Australia's unofficial representative in Taiwan from 1992 to 1997 when he headed the Australian Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei. In Canberra he was First Assistant Secretary, North Asia Division (1998-2001).

Mr Heseltine's other overseas assignments have been as Third and Second Secretary in Santiago (1970-73) and First Secretary in Madrid (1975-78). Mr Heseltine was also Assistant Secretary, Maritime and South East Asia Branch (1997-98), and was seconded to the Victorian State Government as Director, China Investment Project, Department of Industry and Technology (1985-87).

Educated at Monash University, Mr Heseltine holds a Bachelor of Economics degree with honours. He was born in Melbourne in 1947 and is married with two children. He speaks Mandarin and Spanish.

Media inquiries : (Minister Downer) 02 6277 7500 - (Minister Vaile) 02 6277 7420