Korean Australian Helps Prepare G20 Summit

Hae Kyong Holdaway, an official in the Australian Embassy in Tokyo, will be working from Korea's Ministry of Strategy and Finance from the end of this month. Holdaway is a Korean immigrant to Australia dispatched to assist the Korean government in chairing the G20 Summit next year, since Canberra hosted the G20 meeting of ministers in 2006.

Holdaway moved to Australia with her family at the age of 11. After graduating in business administration from the University of Western Australia, she started her career as a civil servant at Australia's national tax office in 1991. In 2002, she moved to the Treasury and has been working in fields of tax laws, economic policies, fair competition and customer policies. She is 39.

In Korea, she will work on the agenda and other issues for next year's G20 Summit. "At the G20 Summit, Korea and Australia, who are not part of the G8, can make their voice heard. I believe what is important for both the Korean and the Australian governments is a sustainably and consistently led G20 Summit," she says.

It is the first time Holdaway has worked with Korean civil servants. "When I meet Korean civil servants in international conferences, I notice that I have a lot to learn from them because they are very hardworking," she says. "When I propose ideas in my limited Korean ability, they tend to be willing to accept my ideas with a lot of warmth."

Her Australian husband studied at Korea University as an exchange student for a year, and worked at the Daejeon EXPO in 1993. A mother of two sons, Holdaway says, "It's a personal honor to work in Korea as I now get a chance to teach Korean to my sons, who barely speak the language."