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List of ambassadors of Australia to Colombia

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Ambassador of Australia to Colombia
Incumbent
Bernard Unkles
since 23 November 2022
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
StyleHer Excellency
Reports toMinister for Foreign Affairs
NominatorPrime Minister of Australia
AppointerGovernor General of Australia
Inaugural holderAllan Loomes
(resident in Peru)
Formation1976
WebsiteAustralian Embassy Bogota, Colombia

The ambassador of Australia to Colombia is an officer of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the head of the Embassy of the Commonwealth of Australia to the Republic of Colombia. The position has the rank and status of an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and is based in the Australian Embassy in Bogota, which was opened by Foreign Minister Julie Bishop on 27 June 2017. The embassy replaced and consolidated an Austrade office and Consulate-General, as well as a separate Australian Federal Police Liaison Office, in Bogota. The present Chargé D’Affaires is currently Bernard Unkles since 23 November 2022.[1]

Posting history

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Australia and Colombia established diplomatic relations on 9 September 1975 and the Ambassador to Peru, Allan Loomes, received non-resident accreditation for Colombia, presenting his credentials to President Alfonso López Michelsen in 1976.[2][3] In 1983 accreditation for Colombia was transferred to the Australian Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela. When the Caracas embassy was closed in 2002, accreditation was then transferred to the resident ambassador in Santiago, Chile. In 1989, an Honorary Consulate was opened in Bogota.[4] Prominent Colombian lawyer, Dario Cárdenas, of one of Colombia's largest law firms, Dentons Cardenas & Cardenas, served as Honorary Consul from July 1989 to 1994.[5][6]

On 30 August 2011, Trade Minister and Acting Minister for Foreign Affairs Craig Emerson announced the opening of a new Austrade office and Australian Consulate-General (managed by Austrade) in Bogota: "This decision follows improvements in business conditions and increasing levels of foreign direct investment in response to the Colombian Government’s economic reform agenda".[7] From July 2012 until the opening of the resident embassy in June 2017, the Trade Commissioner served concurrently as Consul-General.[8]

In late 2016, Trade Minister Steven Ciobo visited Colombia and later announced to Colombian press with Foreign Minister Julie Bishop that Australia intended to open an Australian resident Embassy in Colombia as part of a greater Australian effort "to get closer to Latin America".[9] On 10 March 2017, Bishop made the formal announcement of the intention to open a resident Embassy in Bogota, noting: "Colombia is the fourth largest economy in Latin America and enjoys the highest growth rate of the major economies in the region. Australia’s total trade with Colombia is worth $500 million annually and our investment in Colombia is valued at more than $3 billion."[10] This was part of a planned $58 million expansion over four years of Australia's diplomatic presence abroad, being the fifth Australian embassy in Latin America and established alongside a new embassy to Morocco and a consulate-general in Surabaya.[11] It was also reported that the increasing stability within Colombia due to the end of the civil war and its status as "South America's second strongest economy [with] an incredible demand for Australian goods and services" had prompted the embassy's creation.[12][13][14] In response to the announcement, the Colombian press reported the Foreign Minister, María Ángela Holguín, as noting the importance of the embassy's opening to assisting the growing international student and education ties between the two countries.[15][16]

On 27 June 2017, Foreign Minister Bishop officially opened the new Australian Embassy in Bogota and announced the appointment of the first resident ambassador the following day.[17][18]

List of officeholders

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Heads of mission

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Ordinal Name Office Residency Term start date Term end date Time in office Notes
1 Allan Loomes OBE Ambassador of Australia to Colombia Lima, Peru 1976 1978 1–2 years
2 Alan Fogg MBE 1979 1980 0–1 years
3 Jim Ferguson 1981 1983 1–2 years [19]
4 Peter Barbour Caracas, Venezuela 1983 1984 0–1 years [20]
5 Richard Starr 1985 1986 0–1 years [21]
6 Anthony Dingle 1987 1991 3–4 years [22]
7 Dominique De Stoop 1991 1996 4–5 years
8 Roger Frankel 1996 2000 3–4 years [23]
9 Susan Tanner 2000 2002 1–2 years [24]
10 Elizabeth Schick Santiago, Chile 2002 20 September 2005 (2005-09-20) 2–3 years [25]
11 Crispin Conroy 20 September 2005 (2005-09-20) 24 February 2009 (2009-02-24) 3 years, 157 days [25]
12 Virginia Greville 24 February 2009 (2009-02-24) 29 May 2012 (2012-05-29) 3 years, 95 days [26]
13 Tim Kane 29 May 2012 (2012-05-29) 28 June 2017 (2017-06-28) 5 years, 30 days [27]
14 Sophie Davies Bogota, Colombia 28 June 2017 (2017-06-28) 22 October 2020 (2020-10-22) 3 years, 116 days [18]
15 Erika Thompson 22 October 2020 (2020-10-22) 23 November 2022 (2022-11-23) 4 years, 67 days [1]
16 Anna Chrisp 29 September 2023 (2023-09-29) incumbent 4 years, 67 days [1]

{enddate|2022|10|30|df=y}} | align=right | 3 years, 116 days | [18]

Consul-General and Trade Commissioner

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Ordinal Name Office Residency Term start date Term end date Time in office Notes
1 Crispin Conroy Consul-General and Trade Commissioner Bogota, Colombia June 2012 (2012-06) June 2016 (2016-06) 4 years
2 Saïd Metwalli August 2016 (2016-08) 28 June 2017 (2017-06-28) 10 months [28]
Consul-General and Trade Commission office closed; Embassy established in Bogota.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c "Ambassador to Colombia". 22 October 2020. Archived from the original on 2 December 2020. Retrieved 9 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Colombia country brief". Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  3. ^ "IN BRIEF". The Canberra Times. Vol. 50, no. 14, 169. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 12 September 1975. p. 3. Retrieved 20 May 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  4. ^ Cortes, M. (2007). "Examining Patterns of Bilateral Trade between Australia and Colombia by Using Cointegration Analysis and Error-Correction Models" (Working Paper). Faculty of Business Working Papers. University of Wollongong: 7–20. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  5. ^ "Australia's honorary consuls" (PDF). Australian International Law News. Australian Legal Information Institute. 1991. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  6. ^ "Dario Cárdenas - Partner". Dentons Cardenas & Cardenas. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  7. ^ Emerson, Craig (30 August 2011). "Austrade Office and Australian Consulate-General for Colombia" (Media Release). Minister for Trade and Competitiveness. Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
  8. ^ "Relaciones Bilaterales > Historia > Australia". Embajada de Colombia en Australia (in Spanish). Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  9. ^ EFE (14 September 2016). "Australia abrirá embajada en Colombia 'para acercarse a Latinoamérica'" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  10. ^ Bishop, Julie (10 March 2017). "New Australian Embassy in Colombia" (Press release). Australian Government.
  11. ^ Sheridan, Greg (23 June 2016). "Federal election 2016: Libs plan 24/7 'global watch'". The Australian. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  12. ^ "Cashing in on Colombian opportunities". Sky News. 25 November 2016. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  13. ^ Miranda, Charles (7 May 2017). "As Cassie Sainsbury languishes in jail, Aussie authorities head to Colombia to wage a coke war". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  14. ^ Alvarez, Cesar (27 September 2016). "Demining Colombia". Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI). The Strategist. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  15. ^ "Australia anuncia apertura de embajada en Colombia" (in Spanish). El Heraldo. 10 March 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  16. ^ "Gobierno australiano anuncia apertura de embajada en Colombia" (in Spanish). El Tiempo. 10 March 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
  17. ^ "Australia ya tiene embajada en Colombia" (in Spanish). W Radio. 27 June 2017. Retrieved 28 June 2017.
  18. ^ a b c Bishop, Julie (28 June 2017). "Ambassador to Colombia" (Press release). Australian Government.
  19. ^ "Diplomatic postings". The Canberra Times. 1 August 1980. p. 7.
  20. ^ "VICE-REGAL". The Canberra Times. Vol. 58, no. 17, 545. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 12 October 1983. p. 2. Retrieved 20 May 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  21. ^ "VICE-REGAL". The Canberra Times. Vol. 61, no. 18, 614. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 18 September 1986. p. 2. Retrieved 20 May 2017 – via National Library of Australia.
  22. ^ "Venezuela posting". The Canberra Times. 24 March 1987. p. 3.
  23. ^ Evans, Gareth (7 September 1995). "Diplomatic Appointment: Ambassador to Venezuela" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014.
  24. ^ Downer, Alexander (13 October 1999). "Diplomatic Appointment: Ambassador to Venezuela" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 12 February 2014.
  25. ^ a b Downer, Alexander (20 September 2005). "Diplomatic Appointment: Ambassador to Chile" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 19 April 2015.
  26. ^ Smith, Stephen (24 February 2009). "Diplomatic Appointment: Ambassador to Chile" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015.
  27. ^ Carr, Bob (29 May 2012). "Diplomatic Appointment: Ambassador to Chile" (Press release). Australian Government. Archived from the original on 4 April 2015.
  28. ^ "Said Metwalli - Trade Commissioner and Consul General". Austrade > Austrade representatives. Australian Trade Commission. Retrieved 19 May 2017.
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