MEDIA RELEASE  MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS  ALEXANDER DOWNER

FA136

DIPLOMATIC APPOINTMENT: VIENNA

JIb. -!.I AUSTRALIA (} " _'ÂªÂªÂª~ Â´Â´(I.../J.  3 December 1996

I am pleased to announce today the appointment of Mr Lance Joseph as Australian  Ambassador to the Republic of Austria, and Permanent Representative to International  Organisations with headquarters in Vienna. He will also have concurrent accreditation as  Ambassador to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Slovenia respectively .

. Mr Joseph will succeed Mr Ronald Walker, who has been Ambassador since May 1993, later  this month.

Mr Joseph will be accredited to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United  Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), and the United Nations office in  Vienna which includes, inter alia, the United Nations Drug Control Program (UNDCP).

Mr Joseph will also be Australia's Governor on the IAEA Board of Governors.

Australia and Austria enjoy a friendly and productive relationship which is marked by  co-operation on a range of international issues. As a member of the European Union, Austria  plays a valuable role in the forging of closer ties between Australia and the European Union.  There is also scope for further development of our bilateral trade and investment relationship.

Australia's relations with the recently independent countries of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia  and Slovenia, underpinned by strong community links, have been developing well at the  political, economic and other levels.

Australia was a long-standing supporter of the lAEA, particularly its priority activities in  pursuing nuclear non-proliferation objectives and promoting peaceful uses of nuclear energy.  One of Mr Joseph's most important tasks will be to contribute to the Agency's current efforts  to strengthen the international nuclear safeguards system. He will be working closely with the  UNDCP in addressing the international effort to reduce the production , trafficking and  consumption of illicit narcotics.

Mr Joseph is a senior career officer of the Department which he joined in 1960. He has  served in Singapore, London, Manila, Bangkok and UN New York (twice) . He was  Ambassador in Seoul 1984-87, High Commissioner Port Moresby 1987-89, Minister and  Deputy Chief of Mission, Washington 1990-93 and Ambassador in Rome from 1993 to the  present. In the Department in Canberra, he has been Assistant Secretary, in charge of South  East Asia Branch (1974-76) and has held appointments as First Assistant Secretary in 1989.  Mr Joseph, who is a graduate of the University of Western Australia, has also done graduate  study at the University of California at Berkley, -USA.

