Prime Minister John Key has appointed Wayne Boyd to the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) for a three-year term.

Mr Boyd is a former professional director with extensive merchant banking and legal experience. He currently chairs a number of company boards and is the former chairman of Telecom New Zealand Limited.

“Mr Boyd's extensive business, banking and legal experience stands him in good stead to be an active and effective contributor to ABAC's work,” says Mr Key.

Mr Boyd joins existing New Zealand ABAC representatives Tony Nowell and Maxine Simmons.

The APEC Business Advisory Council is a network of business representatives from each of the 21 APEC economies, which meets to develop business perspectives on issues being discussed among APEC economies. ABAC provides a separate process for raising policy issues and offering private sector advice on trade and economic liberalisation efforts within the Asia Pacific region.

At the APEC Leaders’ Summit in Honolulu in November, issues raised by ABAC included regional economic integration, particularly the pathway to a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific. This year’s APEC summit meeting will take place in Russia in September.