MINISTER FOR  FOREIGN AFFAIRS

*

,  A U S T K A / J A  .

NEWS RELEASE

18 October 1984

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DIPLOMATIC APPOINTMENT -  POLAND

The M in is te r fo r Foreign A f f a i r s ,  Mr B i l l  Hayden MPZ today

announced the appointment of Mr Max Hughes as A u s tr a lia 's  Ambassador

to Poland. He succeeds Mr John Burgess, who has been Ambassador

since 1980. Mr Hughes, who w i l l  be resident in Warsaw, w i l l  also be

accredited as A u s tra lia 's  Ambassador to Czechoslovakia.

Mr Hayden said A u s tra lia  had enjoyed a long and productive

re la tio n s h ip  with Poland, marked by co-operation during the t r i a l s

of the Second World War and the establishment of resident Embassies

in Warsaw and Canberra in 1973. He said th a t the two countries had

b u ilt  up useful exchanges in trade and c u ltu re  and the Polish

community in A u s tra lia  had made a s ig n ific a n t c o n trib u tio n  to

A u s tra lia 's  development.

Mr Hayden noted th a t recent events in  Poland had severely

lim ited  the growth of b i l a t e r a l  exchanges but said he was encouraged

by developments th is  yea r, p r in c ip a lly  the amnesty on p o l i t i c a l

prisoners of 21 Ju ly. Mr Hayden said the Government would be

looking forward to fu rth e r developments toward n a tio n a l r e c o n c ilia tio n

in Poland.

A -

Mr Hughes j o i n e d  t h e  D e p a r t m e n t  o f  F o r e i g n  A f f a i r s  i n  1965

and has s e r v e d  i n  Bonn, W a s h i n g t o n ,  K u al a  Lumpur and P o r t  M o r e s b y .

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