New APEC Secretariat Deputy Executive Director

Ambassador Colin S. Heseltine assumed the position of Deputy Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat this week.

A career diplomat from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ambassador Heseltine will serve as the Deputy Executive Director for the 2006 APEC Year hosted by Viet Nam become the 15th Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat when Australia hosts APEC in 2007.

Ambassador Heseltine was born in 1947 and has served in several senior overseas postings for the Australian Government including as Australian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea and Head of Mission to Australia's Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei. Ambassador Heseltine has also served in other Australian diplomatic missions in Beijing, Santiago and Madrid.

Ambassador Heseltine holds a Bachelor of Economics with honours from Monash University in Australia and speaks Mandarin and Spanish. He is married with two daughters.

The 2006 APEC Secretariat Executive Director is Ambassador Tran Trong Toan from Viet Nam.

The APEC Secretariat is based in Singapore and operates as the core support mechanism for the APEC process. It provides coordination, technical and advisory support as well as information management, communications and public outreach services.

The APEC Secretariat performs a central project management role, assisting APEC Member Economies and APEC fora with overseeing more than 230 APEC-funded projects. APEC's annual budget is also administered by the APEC Secretariat.

Additional biodata and news photographs of Ambassadors Toan and Heseltine are available at: http://www.apec.org/content/apec/news___media/fact_sheets.html
Details on APEC Viet Nam 2006 are available at: www.apec2006.vn