- PRIME MINISTER APPOINTS BARONESS AMOS AS HIS G8 REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE NEW AFRICAN INITIATIVE - CHANGE OF AMBASSADOR AT TUNIS

8 Aug 2001 12:00 AM

PRIME MINISTER APPOINTS BARONESS AMOS AS HIS G8 REPRESENTATIVE FOR THE NEW AFRICAN INITIATIVE

The Prime Minister has appointed Baroness Amos as his Personal Representative on the G8 group, which will work in partnership with African leaders to take forward the New African Initiative.

Commenting on the appointment, Valerie Amos said:

''I am delighted to be given this role. We want to support African efforts to resolve African problems. The outcome at Genoa owes much to the Prime Minister''s personal determination to see Africa given high priority, and to put in place a structured process for taking this engagement forward. We now have a real opportunity - with the commitment of African leaders through the New African Initiative, of the Prime Minister, the G8 and our other international partners - to begin to make a difference.''

Notes For Editors

At the Genoa summit, G8 leaders devoted much of the pre-summit ''outreach'' event to discussion of Africa. Five African leaders (Presidents Mbeki, Obasanjo, Bouteflika, Konare and Wade) attended the event. G8 leaders considered how to respond to the New African Initiative (NAI) endorsed by the OAU summit in Lusaka in early July. They mandated follow-up work on the key themes of the NAI, and agreed to appoint high-level Personal Representatives to take this work forward. These Representatives will work with African counterparts and international partners on an action plan, to be approved at the G8 summit in Canada in 2002.

G8 leaders noted that the NAI is based on the principles of responsibility and ownership, with an emphasis on democracy, transparency, good governance, the rule of law and human rights as fundamental factors of development.

Valerie Amos is Minister for Africa at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. She will be working in close collaboration with DFID, and with other government departments.

Press Officer: Miranda Hudson: 020 7270 3104

CHANGE OF AMBASSADOR AT TUNIS

Robin Kealy has been appointed Her Majesty''s Ambassador to the Republic of Tunisia in succession to Ivor Rawlinson, who will be retiring from the Diplomatic Service. Mr Kealy will take up his new appointment in January 2002.

CURRICULUM VITAE

Full Name: Robin Andrew Kealy Date of Birth: 7 October 1944 Marital Status: Married (Annabel) Children: 2 sons (1989) (1992) Honours: CMG

Career 1997-2001 JERUSALEM (Consul-General) 1995-1997 FCO (Head of Aviation and Maritime Department) 1990-1995 PARIS (Director of Trade Promotion and Investment) 1987-1990 BAGHDAD (Deputy Head of Mission) 1987 FCO (full time language training) 1986-1987 FCO (Assistant, Aid Policy Department) 1982-1985 PRAGUE (First Secretary Commercial) 1981 BELMOPAN (Political Adviser) 1978-1981 PORT OF SPAIN (Head of Chancery) 1975-1978 FCO (Middle East Department) 1972-1975 KUWAIT (Second later First Secretary) 1970-1972 TRIPOLI (Third later Second Secretary) 1968-1970 Middle East Centre for Arabic Studies 1967-1968 FCO (North and East African Department) 1967 Entered FCO

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