Rt Hon Bill English
Prime Minister

16 March 2017 Media Statement

PM announces appointments to APEC council

Prime Minister Bill English today announced the appointments of Phil O’Reilly and Tenby Powell to the APEC Business Advisory Council, through to December 2019.

The Prime Minister also confirmed the extension of Katherine Rich’s appointment through till March 2019.

“Mr O’Reilly and Mr Powell both bring important skills to the organisation and will strongly represent the interests of New Zealand businesses on important trade and economic issues in the Asia Pacific,” Mr English says.

“I am also pleased to extend Mrs Rich’s term. She is leading important work on addressing non-tariff barriers, including in the food sector, which is a key priority for New Zealand, and this will allow her to continue in that role.”

Mr O’Reilly is the Founder and Director of Iron Duke Partners Ltd, a former CEO of Business New Zealand, and the current chair of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Mr Powell is the co-founder of Hunter Powell Investment Partners Ltd and has been an active champion of small business issues, in particular by founding the NZ SME Business Network, and has been the Chair of the Small Business Development Group since 2012.

ABAC is a network of business representatives from each of the 21 APEC economies. It provides advice from a business perspective to APEC Leaders each year on the implementation of APEC’s work towards economic prosperity in the Asia Pacific region.

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