Australia’s Foreign Ministry has announced the appointment of Alan Sweetman as the country’s next High Commissioner to Cyprus.

Sweetman will assume duties in September 2015 replacing Trevor Peacock who worked hard in strengthening Australia’s relations with Cyprus since September 2011.

“Relations between Australia and Cyprus are underpinned by strong people-to-people links, joint membership of the Commonwealth, and Australia’s long standing support of United Nations efforts to find a just and permanent solution to the Cyprus dispute,” an official announcement said on Tuesday.

“The extension of Australia’s police deployment to Cyprus for another two years ensures continued support for the negotiating efforts of the UN Secretary-General’s Special Adviser on Cyprus, Espen Barth Eide,” it added.

Sweetman is a career officer with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, who has previously served overseas as Deputy Head of Mission at the Australian Embassy in Kabul and at the Australian Embassy in Athens.

Most recently, he was Director of the Southern Europe Section, while hies earlier DFAT postings found him in Dili and Jakarta, and with the Peace Monitoring Group in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.

Earlier in his career he served on China and ASEAN country desks as well as a Senior Adviser in the Australian Civil Military Centre and as Director of DFAT’s APEC Reform, Security and Technical Cooperation Section.