Gillian Elizabeth Bird of Australia Chair of Fifth Committee

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service)

The Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) elected Gillian Elizabeth Bird (Australia) as Chair on 5 June.  (See Press Release GA/12022.)

Before her appointment as Permanent Representative in February 2015, Ms. Bird was Deputy Secretary of Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2004 to 2014.  She also served, concurrently, as her country’s Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from 2008 to 2013.

A career diplomat with more than three decades standing in Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Ms. Bird held the position of First Assistant Secretary of the International Division, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet from 2002 to 2004.  From 1999 to 2002, she was First Assistant Secretary, South and South-East Asia Division.  She also served as First Assistant Secretary, International Organisations and Legal Division from 1997 to 1999.

Ms. Bird’s other positions included Assistant Secretary, Peace, Arms Control and Disarmament Branch from 1994 to 1997, and Counsellor at the Australian Mission to the United Nations in New York from 1990 to 1993.  In addition, she was Adviser to the Office of the Minister for Trade Negotiations between 1988 and 1990.

Beginning her career in 1980, Ms. Bird also held several related positions, including a short-term mission of the Australian High Commission in Harare, Zimbabwe, between 1986 and 1987, and as a representative of Australia at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris from 1980 to 1983.

Ms. Bird holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Sydney, Australia, and is a graduate of the French École Nationale d’Administration.

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*     This supersedes Press Release BIO/4693 of 17 February 2015.