New ASEAN Deputy Sec-Gen for Community and Corporate Affairs takes office

JAKARTA, 2 September 2019 –  ASEAN welcomed Robert Matheus Michael Tene as the new Deputy Secretary-General (DSG) of ASEAN for Community and Corporate Affairs. Taking his office today, Tene will serve a three-year term from 2019 to 2022.

DSG Tene will support the Secretary-General of ASEAN in providing strategic direction and guidance on Community and Corporate Affairs, Legal Services and Agreement, and Programme Cooperation and Project Management .

He will oversee the implementation of administration and general affairs, finance and budget, human resources, information technology, information resource management, public outreach, stakeholders engagements, protocol and formalities, legal affairs, and programme cooperation and project management, among others.

Prior to assuming the position, DSG Tene served as a Senior Official at the Directorate General for ASEAN Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) of Indonesia.

He carries 25 years of experience, serving various roles at the MFA Indonesia. In his last overseas posting, DSG Tene was the Deputy Permanent Representative/Ambassador of the Permanent Mission of Indonesia to the UN and other International Organization in Geneva between 2015 and 2018.

He obtained his MA in Public Administration from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, Japan and gained his BA from Faculty of Economics, University of Indonesia in Jakarta, Indonesia.

As stated in the ASEAN Charter, the Secretary-General of ASEAN shall be assisted by four Deputy Secretaries-General, of different nationalities from the Secretary-General and shall come from four different ASEAN Member States. Two DSGs are nominated by the ASEAN Member States on a rotational basis for a non-renewable term of three years while two DSGs are openly-recruited based on merit for a three-year term which may be renewed for another three years. DSG Tene is one of the two openly-recruited DSGs.