Sunday Aug 31, 2025
Sunday Aug 31, 2025
Monday, 14 July 2025 04:22 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
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Matthew Duckworth
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Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has announced the appointment of Matthew Duckworth as the country’s next High Commissioner to Sri Lanka.
Duckworth is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and was most recently US Trade Taskforce Assistant Secretary and Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement Deputy Chief Negotiator.
He has previously served overseas in Indonesia and Cambodia.
Minister Wong described Sri Lanka as a key partner for Australia in the Northeast Indian Ocean, highlighting strong community links, a longstanding development partnership, growing trade and investment ties, and a shared commitment to a peaceful, stable, and prosperous Indian Ocean Region.
She noted that Australia and Sri Lanka work closely together to find practical solutions to shared regional and global challenges, including transnational crime, regional maritime security, and people smuggling. “Our countries also share strong people-to-people ties, and Australia’s Sri Lankan community of more than 160,000 people makes an important and valued contribution to Australia’s multicultural society,” Wong added.
