Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters today announced the appointment of career diplomat Si’alei van Toor as New Zealand’s next Ambassador to Russia.

“I’m pleased to appoint Ms van Toor to this position. She brings a wealth of experience to the role having previously served as Senior Trade Adviser to the Minister for Trade and Export Growth, and has held various senior positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. She has also had diplomatic postings to Beijing and served as Director New Zealand Commerce and Industry Office in Taipei,” said Mr Peters.

“New Zealand’s ties with Russia are long-standing. We engage closely on a range of regional and global interests including, climate change, security and non-proliferation. Russia also has considerable economic potential which makes it an important partner for New Zealand.

“Russia also has close links with the Asia Pacific region and we share membership of the East Asia Summit and APEC. We look forward to welcoming Russia’s participation in APEC events in New Zealand in 2021,” Mr Peters said.

Ms van Toor will also be accredited to Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, and will commence her post in early January 2020.

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