Former Australian foreign minister Julie Bishop appointed UN special envoy for Myanmar

 Australia’s former foreign minister Julie Bishop is appointed as the UN special envoy for Myanmar by the UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres.

Bishop succeeds Noeleen Heyzer, a former UN under secretary-general nearly a year after Heyzer retired.

She brings extensive political, legal, management and senior leadership experience to the role. 

Earlier, she held several high-level positions in the Australian government, including foreign minister (2013-18), cabinet minister for education, science & training, minister assisting the Prime Minister for women’s issues and minister for ageing. Bishop was also a member of the Australian Parliament from 1998 to 2019, following a two decades long legal career.

Throughout her career, Bishop played a key role in strengthening engagement with regional partners and leading international negotiation efforts. Notably, she was involved in the first-ever United Nations convention on the law of sea conciliation.

Currently, she serves as the chancellor of Australian National University and holds a bachelor degree of law from the Adelaide University.