I am pleased to announce the appointment of Mr David Murray, Managing
Director of the Commonwealth Bank, as one of my three personal representatives
on the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC).
Mr Murray brings a wealth of business experience to his ABAC role.
He has done a great deal over many years to promote Australian business
and the expertise of Australia's banking and financial services
sectors overseas, especially in the APEC region. Last year, he also
made an important contribution, as a representative of the private
sector, to the work of my task force on international financial reform.
APEC leaders agreed at the Osaka meeting in November 1995 to the establishment
of ABAC as a way of ensuring that leaders benefit from the views of
those most directly involved in regional trade and investment. The
Council provides Australian business with a strong voice in APEC.
It has served APEC well over the four years of its existence.
This will be an important year for APEC and I very much look forward
to working closely with Mr Murray and my two other ABAC representatives,
Mr Michael Crouch and Mr Malcolm Kinnaird, to achieve practical results
for Australia and to remove impediments standing in the way of business.
Mr Murray will replace Mrs Imelda Roche, co-chairman of Nutri-Metics
International, who has been a member of ABAC since its inception.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank Imelda warmly for the
extremely valuable contribution she has made since 1995. She has been
an excellent representative both of Australia and of Australian business.
16 April 1999