Public Lecture: The European Union in the Pacific
Its role, its relationships, its contribution
H.E. Wiepke van der Goot, Ambassador of the European Commission to the Pacific
and
H.E. Aldo Dell’Ariccia, Ambassador of the European Commission to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu
Date Monday, 10th March 2008
Time 5.00pm – 6.30pm
Venue Lecture Theatre 4, Law School, Old Government Buildings,
Victoria University of Wellington, Lambton Quay
To register your attendance, telephone the Delegation of the European Commission on 04 472 9145, or email
delegation-new-zealand-secretary@ec.europa.eu.
Wiepke van der Goot joined the European Commission in 1981 and has previously served in Delegations in Somalia,
Madagascar and Kenya. He was Ambassador to Malawi from 2001-2005 before returning to headquarters to manage the Water
and Energy Facility Unit at the EuropeAid Cooperation Office. In November 2007 he was posted as Ambassador to the
Pacific, a responsibility covering 11 Pacific Islands countries.
Wiepke van der Goot is a Dutch national and studied at Wageningen Agricultural University, graduating with a Masters
Degree in Tropical Land Management. Before joining the European Commission , he worked on development projects for the
UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, the World Bank and Development Alternatives Inc, a private US firm.
Aldo Dell’Ariccia joined the European Commission in 1988 and has served in Delegations in India, Costa Rica and
Thailand. He opened the EC Delegation to Cambodia in Phnom Penh before being posted at the Commission headquarters in
Brussels as the Deputy Head of the South East Asia Unit at the External Relations Directorate-General, dealing in
particular with Indonesia and East Timor. Since 2006 he has been the Ambassador to Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and
Vanuatu.
Aldo Dell’Ariccia was born in Rome, Italy. After post-graduate studies in Social and Political Sciences and Economics at
the University of Geneva in Switzerland, he lectured on epistemology at the university. In a varied career before
joining the Commission, he also worked as a UN volunteer and consultant in Central America, as a journalist, and as a
director of a health project in Colombia.
ends