New Treasury official named

 THE National Executive Council has appointed Dairi Vele as acting Secretary for Treasury, Prime Minister Peter O’Neill announced yesterday.

Vele is the incumbent director of the Gas Coordination Office and was selected from a shortlist of three candidates that the Public Services Commission vetted and submitted to the NEC.

He replaces Simon Tosali, who leaves after a “remarkable tenure in advising government on economic policy and budget management and implementation”.

Vele, 38, from Central, holds an economics degree from the Australian National University.

He was a privatisation adviser at the Independent Public Business Corporation (IPBC) from 2003 – 2006 before joining the Treasury Department as an advisor sponsored by AusAID.

In 2008, he was appointed director of Gas Project FEED Coordination Office and 

was instrumental in negotiating the PNG LNG project agreement, notably the benchmark fiscal terms for the project.

In 2010, Vele was appointed chief executive officer of the National Petroleum Company, building the company that holds the state equity in the LNG project from the ground up.

In December 2011 he was appointed director of the 

Gas Project Coordination Office, which he currently holds.

“Vele is a well qualified Papua New Guinean who will continue an excellent job Tosali has done at Treasury,” O’Neill said.

He paid tribute to Tosali, and said he will be deployed in other areas within government where his skill and experience will be utilised.