The New Zealand foreign minister has announced that David Nicholson will be the next High Commissioner to Samoa.
Mr Nicholson has worked on Pacific development issues at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2012 and is currently Divisional Manager - Melanesia and Micronesia.
He will also be accredited to American Samoa.
The foreign minister Murray McCully says Samoa is a close and long-standing friend, and an important partner for New Zealand in the Pacific.
Samoa was a New Zealand colony until 1962.