13 Facts About Charles Lepani

Sir Charles Lepani, was a Papua New Guinean public servant and diplomat.

Charles Lepani was the country's high commissioner in Australia from 2005 to 2017 and, prior to that, had been its ambassador to both the European Union and several European countries.

Charles Watson Modudaya Lepani was born in the Trobriand Islands in the Milne Bay Province of Papua New Guinea.

Charles Lepani studied industrial relations at the University of New South Wales, with a scholarship from the Australian Council of Trade Unions.

Charles Lepani was asked by the country's first prime minister, Michael Somare, to become head of the National Planning Office, a position he stayed in for almost six years.

In 1991, Charles Lepani was appointed ambassador to the European Union, serving in that position until 1994.

Charles Lepani's responsibilities made him ambassador in Belgium, Netherlands, Greece and Italy, as well as several UN agencies based in Europe.

Charles Lepani then studied for a master's degree in public administration from the Harvard Kennedy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the US, receiving a Fulbright scholarship.

Charles Lepani worked as an advisor and consultant to the PNG government, as well as the United Nations Development Programme, United Nations Centre for Transnational Corporations and the Asian Development Bank, on a range of financial and policy issues, before being appointed in 2005 as high commissioner to Australia, based in Canberra.

Charles Lepani stayed in that role until 2017, becoming the doyen of the diplomatic corps.

In July 2020, it was announced that Charles Lepani would become a member of the board of Geopacific Resources Ltd, a company involved in gold mining on Woodlark Island in Milne Bay Province.

Charles Lepani died from intestinal cancer in Port Moresby on 10 January 2025, at the age of 77.

Charles Lepani was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2017.