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Brunei diplomat named new ASEAN secretary-general
Lim Jock Hoi (Embassy of Japan in Brunei Darussalam)Lim Jock Hoi, a seasoned diplomat from Brunei Darussalam, will be taking over the reins of the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, following an announcement by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore
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Lim Jock Hoi (Embassy of Japan in Brunei Darussalam)
Lim Jock Hoi, a seasoned diplomat from Brunei Darussalam, will be taking over the reins of the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, following an announcement by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore.
The Singaporean leader confirmed the appointment of Lim, 66, as the next ASEAN secretary-general on Tuesday night during a speech to mark the start of Singapore’s own chairmanship of the 10-nation bloc in 2018.
Lim, a permanent secretary at the Brunei Foreign Affairs and Trade Ministry, will take on his new role in January, replacing current ASEAN Secretary-General Le Luong Minh of Vietnam. Minh will conclude his five-year term at the end of the year.
Prime Minister Lee expressed his gratitude to the outgoing ASEAN secretary-general in the closing ceremony of the 31st ASEAN Summit, held at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila.
He said that Singapore, which takes over the mantle of ASEAN chair from current host the Philippines, looks forward to working closely with Lim and the ASEAN Secretariat to strengthen community building efforts.
Lim entered the government of Brunei in 1977, having served in roles dealing with foreign affairs and trade. Most recently, he was Brunei’s chief negotiator in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade talks until its conclusion in 2015.
Various media reports say Lim’s experiences will help push forward negotiations on the ASEAN-led Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), a trade pact rivaling the TPP that is tapped to conclude next year. In running the Secretariat, Lim will be responsible for overseeing a staff of about 300 and managing more than 1,000 ASEAN meetings each year.
According to the 2005 program book of the East ASEAN Growth Area, Lim has education and economics degrees from universities in the United Kingdom. When he started working for the government he took various positions in the Education Ministry until he switched to the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources in 1989 and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade in 2005.
The ASEAN secretary-general is appointed by the ASEAN summit for a non-renewable term of five years, selected from among nationals of ASEAN member states based on alphabetical rotation.
