PAULO Kautoke, the former Secretary for Tonga's Ministry of Labour Commerce and Industries, has been appointed as one of four Assistant Secretaries-General of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group Headquarter in Brussels, starting on July 1.

Paulo is currently the Trade Representative of the Pacific Islands Forum to the World Trade Organisation Headquarter in Geneva, Switzerland, a job he held since October 1, 2008.

As Assistant Secretary-General, Paulo will be the Head the Department of Macro-Economics, Development Finance and Intra-ACP Programming.

A press statement from ACP said Paulo's new appointment came after a competitive, regional search process that involved many candidates from four of the six regions of the ACP Group, including Southern Africa, Central Africa, Caribbean and Pacific.

The other three appointees included Mrs Nthisana Matlhogonolo Philips of Botswana (Southern Africa) as Assistant Secretary-General, Head of the Department of Administration, Finance and Human Resources; Mr Achille Bassilekin III from Cameroon (Central Africa) as Assistant Secretary-General, Head of the Department of Sustainable Economic Development and Trade and Ms Michele Dominique Raymond of Haiti (Caribbean) as Assistant Secretary-General, Head of the Department of Political Affairs and Human Development.