President Major-General (Ret’d) Jioji Konusi Kon­rote on Tuesday received the credentials of the New Zealand and Bel­gium ambassadors to Fiji at Bor­ron House in Suva.

New Zealand High Commissioner Jonathan Andrew Curr and Bel­gium Ambassador to Fiji Marc Mullie presented their credentials after inspecting a 25-member guard of honour by the Republic of Fiji Military Forces.

Prior to Mr Curr’s appointment he served as Ambassador to Turkey and was also accredited to the State of Israel, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordon, Georgia and Republic of Azerbaijan.

His extensive tertiary qualifica­tions include a Bachelor of Arts de­gree in Chinese language, Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree in Politi­cal Science from Canterbury Uni­versity, Teaching Diploma (ATCL) in speech and Drama for Trinity College in London and postgradu­ate certificate in Strategic Studies from Victoria University of Wel­lington.

Mr Curr has held various posi­tions in Wellington including as Development Programme Manager, New Zealand Agency for Interna­tional Development division.

Prior to Mr Marc’s appointment, he was the deputy head of the Of­fice of Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Affairs and has served as Ambassador of Belgium to Malaysia.

After joining diplomatic service in 1988, Ambassador Mullie served at various permanent missions of Belgium and at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has a Master of Law from Ghent University, Master in International and European Law from Free University of Brussels and Bachelor of Arts and Archaeol­ogy, Free University of Brussels.

Ambassador Mullie will be non-resident to Fiji as he will be based in Canberra, Australia.

Source: DEPTFO