Mr Kang joined the Australian Public Service in 1996. He is currently First Assistant Secretary, International Division, and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet since July 2024. Prior to this, Pablo was the head of the 2024 ASEAN-Australia Commemorative Summit Task Force in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), tasked with leading preparations for the successful hosting of the Summit in Melbourne in March 2024.
From 2019 to 2023, he served as Australian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Cambodia from 2019 to 2023, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and then Cambodia’s 2022 ASEAN chair year.
In Canberra, Pablo was the inaugural Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific (AIFFP), having played a leading role in its creation in 2018-19. He also led a Task Force within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade which managed the delivery of a $200 million undersea telecommunications cable connecting Australia with Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands (the Coral Sea Cable System).
Mr Kang has served in a range of other roles in Canberra, including Assistant Secretary, Melanesia Branch (2016-17), Assistant Secretary, Pacific Bilateral and New Zealand Branch (2016), Assistant Secretary, International Organisations Branch (2010-11) and Senior Adviser, International Division in PM&C (2004-05). He was promoted to SES Band 2 in 2019.
Pablo has represented Australia overseas on five diplomatic postings. In addition to his role as Ambassador in Cambodia, he has also been posted to the United Kingdom (Third, later Second Secretary from 1999-2002), the Philippines (Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission from 2006-08), Vanuatu (High Commissioner from 2009-10) and the United Arab Emirates (Ambassador from 2012-16, including non-resident accreditation as Ambassador to Qatar).
Mr Kang was born in Sydney and possesses Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and Law (Honours) degrees from the University of Sydney. He has a Graduate Diploma in Arts (Foreign Affairs and Trade) from Monash University and is also a Fellow of the University of Wollongong in Dubai.
Pablo is married with two sons and enjoys following his beloved Parramatta Eels rugby league team, cricket, travel and movies. He is also an accredited referee with Touch Football Australia.
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