Matthew Duckworth has been named as Australia’s next High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Australia has announced.

Duckworth is a senior career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and was most recently Assistant Secretary, United States Trade Taskforce and Deputy Chief Negotiator, Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement.

He has previously served overseas in Indonesia and Cambodia.

Making the announcement, Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong said Sri Lanka is a key partner for Australia in the Northeast Indian Ocean and the relationship between the two nations is based on strong community links, longstanding development partnership, growing trade and investment ties, and the shared commitment to a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indian Ocean Region.

She added, “Australia and Sri Lanka work closely together to find practical solutions to shared regional and global challenges, including transnational crime, regional maritime security and people smuggling.”

“Our countries also share strong people-to-people ties, and Australia’s Sri Lankan community of more than 160,000 people makes an important and valued contribution to Australia’s multicultural society”, Minister Penny Wong added further.

She also thanked outgoing High Commissioner Paul Stephens for his contributions to advancing Australia’s interests in Sri Lanka since 2022.