Ambassador to Peru

Today I announce the appointment of Mr Nicholas McCaffrey as Australia's next Ambassador to Peru with non-resident accreditation to Bolivia.

Mr McCaffrey is a career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He has previously served overseas at Australian missions in Manila, Buenos Aires and Madrid. He also served in Honiara with the Regional Assistance Mission to the Solomon Islands, and as a Ceasefire Monitor in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.

In Canberra, Mr McCaffrey has worked in a range of roles, including in the Latin America Branch and as Director of the Department's Crisis Management Section.

Mr McCaffrey holds a Masters degree in Foreign Affairs and Trade and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from Monash University. He speaks Spanish and is married with three children.

Australia and Peru established diplomatic relations in 1963 and today enjoy an important and expanding relationship underpinned by strong economic engagement, particularly in mining and mining equipment, technology and services. More than 65 Australian companies operate in Peru and earlier this year MMG, a Melbourne based mining company, purchased the Las Bambas copper mine for $5.8 billion.

Australia and Peru are both members of the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations and cooperate in a number of regional fora, including the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum and the World Trade Organisation. Australia is an observer to the Pacific Alliance of which Peru is a founding member.

People-to-people relations between Australia and Peru are being further strengthened through education and cultural engagement. In 2013 more than 1,600 Peruvian students studied in Australia and the National Gallery of Australia successfully hosted the Gold and the Incas exhibition in Canberra, drawing more than 160,000 visitors. In 2013, approximately 35,000 Australian tourists visited Peru.

Relations with Bolivia are also growing, with Australia hosting the President of the Bolivian College of Geologists during his attendance at the third Latin America Down Under mining conference in Sydney in May of this year.

Mr McCaffrey is expected to take up his appointment in September 2014 replacing Mr John ML Woods PSM.