SINGAPORE - A veteran in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) will be Singapore's high commissioner to Australia. Mr Burhan Gafoor, 48, will take up his new post on Sept 8, the MFA said on Wednesday.

Mr Gafoor, who joined the ministry in 1988, was Singapore's chief negotiator for climate change from May 2010 to July 2014.

Between 2007 and 2010, he was the ambassador to France, and concurrently to Portugal.

Before that, he was the ambassador and Singapore's permanent representative to the World Trade Organization and the United Nations from 2004 to 2007.

In the same period, he was the ambassador to Turkey as well.

The MFA statement said he was the press secretary to former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong from 2002 to 2004.

In addition, he has over the course of his career represented Singapore in various capacities in international organisations, including the World Intellectual Property Organisation and the International Atomic Energy Agency.

He graduated with a Bachelor of Social Science (Honours) degree in political science from the National University of Singapore in 1988 and later received a Masters degree in public administration from Harvard University in 1997, as well as a degree in public administration from the Ecole Nationale d'Administration in Paris in 2002.

Mr Gafoor is married to Ms Zarina Varukatty. They have two sons, aged seven and 12.