Mike Moore to be NZ's next Ambassador to US

New ambassador to the US, former PM Mike Moore. Photo / Paul Estcourt.

Former Labour Prime Minister Mike Moore will be NZ's next US Ambassador, Foreign Minister Murray McCully has confirmed.

Mr McCully said Mr Moore would bring a "huge amount of experience" to the role.

"As a former Prime Minister of New Zealand, Director-General of the World Trade Organisation and co-chair of the US-NZ Partnership Forum, Mr Moore is the best possible candidate for this important role," he said.

Mr Moore's topline experience as a former WTO head and NZ trade minister will be brought into play as negotiations get under way for the US to join the Trans Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (TPP) - a free trade agreement between the Pacific Four (NZ, Brunei, Chile and Singapore) and other new aspiring members such as Australia.

Mr McCully said the TPP would be "a major focus for Mike Moore as Ambassador, working with the US administration and Congress, as well as business interests, as negotiations get under way".

Labour Leader Phil Goff said Mr Moore's political skills would help him persuade congress that the TPP negotiation would "be strongly advantageous to the US as well as New Zealand".

"Mike Moore has the experience, the skills and the contacts within the United States to make him an effective representative in Washington for New Zealand and is the obvious choice for the job," he said.

""Mike's long experience in politics in New Zealand and his former role as Director-General of the WTO are real strengths in the tasks that he will be undertaking as Ambassador. So too will his role as joint-chair of the NZ-US Partnership Forums.:

Mr Moore will be the third former Prime Minister to hold the role of US Ambassador.

Former PM Jim Bolger was seconded to Washington by Jenny Shipley after she ousted him as National's leader and former Labour PM Bill Rowling was also US Ambassador.

Mr Moore will replace current Ambassador Roy Ferguson in July or August of this year.

Mr Moore is expected to be active in trade debating circles as the US moves to create a new trade agenda for the 21st century.

It is understood that another factor in Mr Moore's favour is that he will be dealing with a Democratic administration whose political ideology is more akin to his own.

Mr Moore will be accompanied by his wife Yvonne.

- With NZHERALD STAFF