HE Clare Kelly

Clare took up her posting as New Zealand’s Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organisation in February 2022.

From April 2017 to January 2022 Clare was Assistant Secretary in the Trade and Economic Group of the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with responsibility for the Trade Negotiations Division of the Ministry’s Trade and Economic Group. She also led New Zealand’s trade negotiation with the Pacific Alliance.

From April 2013 to March 2017 she served as New Zealand’s Ambassador to Mexico, with concurrent accreditations to Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, Venezuela and as High Commissioner to Belize.

From May 2009 until her appointment as Ambassador, Clare served as Unit Manager, Trade in Goods, in the Trade Negotiations Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, with responsibility for New Zealand’s agriculture and goods negotiating teams in bilateral and regional free trade agreement negotiations and in the World Trade Organisation. During this period she was also New Zealand’s lead Goods negotiator for the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement negotiation.

Clare was posted as Counsellor in the New Zealand Permanent Mission to the World Trade Organisation in Geneva from 2003 to 2007. Previously, she worked as First Secretary and Consul-General in the New Zealand Embassy in Santiago, Chile.

From 2007 to 2009 Clare worked as a Trade Adviser in the Geneva office of the law firm White & Case LLP, covering a range of international trade law issues, in particular, trade in services, accessions to the WTO and WTO disputes.

Clare holds a Masters Degree in Political Studies from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.