Secretary-General of ASEAN, Dr Surin Pitsuwan, has welcomed the appointment of Ms Gillian Bird as Australia’s first Ambassador to ASEAN.

Dr Surin said, “Ms Bird’s appointment will strengthen and deepen the longstanding partnership between ASEAN and Australia. We look forward to working with her to bring about closer cooperation between the two sides in all fields, including trade and investment through the recently concluded ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand FTA Agreement.”

Australia is the second Dialogue Partner to appoint an Ambassador to ASEAN. The first was the United States, who appointed Mr Scot Marciel as the US Ambassador to ASEAN.