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N E W S  R E L E A S E

NQ D A T E

12 July 1974

APPOINTMENT OF AUSTRALIAN AMBASSADOR  TO PORTUGAL

The Foreign Minister, Senator Don Willesee, today  announced the appointment of Mr F.B. Cooper as Australian  Ambassador to Portugal.

Mr Cooper, aged 54, a senior career officer in the  Department of Foreign Affairs, will succeed Mr K.T. Kelly,  who is returning to Australia.

Senator Willesee said that recent developments in  Portugal and its overseas territories had been followed by  the Australian Government with great interest and he welcomed  the opportunity to announce Mr Cooper's appointment to Lisbon.

Mr Cooper,  who has had one previous appointment as  Ambassador, is presently based in Canberra as Assistant  Secretary in charge of the Department's Branch concerned with  European and African Affairs.

Mr Cooper was born in Melbourne and educated at  Brighton Grammar School and the University of Melbourne.  He  served with the R.A.A.F. during World War II and joined the  then Department of External Affairs in 1947Â· He first served

in London, followed by postings in Bonn and Singapore,  and  from 1964 to 1966 he was Counsellor and Charge d*Affaires at  the Australian Embassy in Vienna where he also served as  Australian Resident Representative to the International Atomic

Energy Agency. From 1966 until 1969, Mr Cooper was Ambassador  in Taiwan.

Mr Cooper is to take up his duties in Lisbon in late  August.  He will be accompanied by his wife.

