Senior appointments at MFAT

Two senior appointments have been made at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, chief executive Simon Murdoch announced today.

Derek Leask becomes deputy secretary with responsibility for trade and relations with Australia, and Crawford Falconer becomes the Ministry's chief trade negotiator.

Derek Leask has long experience in the economic and trade side of the Ministry and in representing New Zealand overseas. He has been closely involved in CER with Australia and agricultural trade with the European Union. He has been New Zealand's Ambassador to the European Community and director of the Ministry's Australia Division. Most recently he has been director of the Trade Negotiations Division and New Zealand's agriculture negotiator in the Doha Round of the WTO.

Crawford Falconer is a highly regarded expert in trade policy. He has represented New Zealand at the GATT in Geneva and was deputy director of the Trade Division at the OECD. Most recently he has been the Ministry's principal adviser on trade policy and has worked closely with the Minister for Trade Negotiations at WTO ministerial meetings. As chief trade negotiator he will be responsible for the conduct and coherence of New Zealand's multilateral (WTO) and bilateral trade negotiations.

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