Foreign Minister Bob Carr today announced Mr Mark Pierce as Australia’s next Consul-General in Mumbai, India’s financial and corporate capital.
He will have responsibility for western India, comprising the states of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Goa.
Mr Pierce is expected to take up his appointment in July 2013, replacing Mr Stephen Waters.
Mr Pierce is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and was until most recently Assistant Secretary of the Department’s South and Central Asia Branch. He has served overseas as Minister-Counsellor at the Australian Embassy in Washington; Chargé d’Affaires at the Australian Embassy in Rome; and Minister at the Australian Embassies in Berlin and Paris, with earlier postings in Tel Aviv and Ottawa.
Mr Pierce was the International Crisis Group’s Director of Research in 2001.
Mr Pierce holds a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of Tasmania and Master of Arts in History from Queen’s University in Canada. He is married to Joanna Hewitt AO.
The Consulate-General, through its liaison with Government and business, both Indian and Australian, plays an important role in furthering Australia’s significant trade, commercial and investment interests in India. Mumbai is a major location for Australian companies, including leading Australian banks, and an important market for Australian services, particularly education and tourism. The state of Gujarat, with its strong business focus, is of growing interest.
India was identified in the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper as a priority bilateral relationship. Two-way trade with India totalled $A17.5 billion in 2012. India was Australia’s fifth largest export market, with principal exports including coal, gold, education and copper.
