Anna George

Anna George is a former Australian ambassador and multilateral negotiator with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) (1988-2006).

As a career diplomat her responsibilities included developing foreign trade, disarmament and non-proliferation policy. She represented and negotiated Australia’s position in the following multilateral forums: World Trade Organization; UN General Assembly; Commission for the Status of Women, Social Development Commission; UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and UNRWA (Palestinian refugees).

In regional forums, she also represented Australia in the Middle East Arms Control and Regional Security negotiations, Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) and was appointed as a lead negotiator in the US-Australia Free Trade negotiations on the digital economy.

As Australia’s representative to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) her role included negotiating the formal institutional framework and governance procedures to enable the Chemical Weapons Convention to be implemented. She also represented Australia on the OPCW Executive Council.

Anna is also an Associate Fellow with Chatham House, Centre on Global Health Security, London