Ric Lawson Wells (born 20 October 1955 is an Australian former diplomat and senior public servant with the

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) is the department of the Australian government responsible for foreign policy and international relations, development aid (under the name Australian Aid), consular services, overseas trad ...

(DFAT). Wells' senior postings included Australia’s Ambassador to France from 2011 until 2014 and two terms as Deputy Secretary of DFAT.

Early life and education

Wells was born in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and attended

Newington College Newington College is a multi-campus Independent school, independent Uniting Church in Australia, Uniting Church Single-sex education, single-sex and Mixed-sex education, co-educational Pre-school education, early learning, Primary school, primar ...

(1968–1973). In his first year at Newington he shared the B S Tame Prize as one of two

duces ''Dux'' (, : ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, ''dux'' coul ...

of First Form and again was co-dux in 1971 when he shared the Stretton Waterhouse Memorial Prize in Fourth Form. At the end of 1972 he was Proxime accessit in the Fifth Form and was awarded one of three Wigram Allen Scholarships. In his final year, in 1973, Wells shared the George Lane Prize as Proxime accesserunt and was also awarded the

Richard Thompson Richard Thompson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Thompson (animator) (1914–1998), Warner Bros. cartoon animator in the 1950s * Richard Thompson (cartoonist) (1957–2016), cartoonist who also worked as an illustrator * Richard Tho ...

Memorial Prize for Debating. At the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

he graduated as a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

with First Class Honours in 1978.

Career

After commencing employment with DFAT, Wells had postings to Cairo (1982-1985) and Jakarta (1987-1989). He was Assistant Secretary, Services and Intellectual Property Branch (1994-1995) and was Deputy Head of the Australian Mission to the

World Trade Organization The World Trade Organization (WTO) is an intergovernmental organization headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland that regulates and facilitates international trade. Governments use the organization to establish, revise, and enforce the rules that g ...

in Geneva (1995-1999). Wells served as an Assistant Secretary in the Trade Policy and Industrials Branch during 1999. From 2000 until 2002 he was an Assistant Secretary of the Asia, Americas and Trade Branch in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. During 2002 he headed the White Paper Task Force And in the following year was appointed the First Assistant Secretary of the South Pacific, Africa and Middle East Division. Between 2005 and 2009, Wells was the Head of the China Free Trade Agreement Task Force, the Head of the Japan Free Trade Agreement Task Force, and the Head of the Korea Free Trade Agreement Task Force. In May 2007 Wells told Australian politicians that the agreement was progressing slowly because "the Chinese Government doesn't want an FTA". The

China–Australia Free Trade Agreement The China–Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) is a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) between the governments of Australia and China. Since negotiations began, 21 negotiating rounds have been completed. The deal was completed on 17 Nov ...

was signed in 2015. In the years before his appointment as Ambassador to France, Wells was both the Deputy Secretary of DFAT and Australia’s Ambassador to the

Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC ) is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Following the success of ASEAN's series of post-ministerial con ...

group. Upon his return to Australia in 2014, Wells again served as Deputy Secretary of DFAT and, in 2016, conjointly held the role of Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wells, Ric 1955 births Living people Australian diplomats Ambassadors of Australia to France Ambassadors of Australia to Morocco Ambassadors of Australia to Monaco Ambassadors of Australia to Mauritania Ambassadors of Australia to Algeria Ambassadors of Australia for Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation People educated at Newington College University of Sydney alumni