Vangelis Vitalis

Vangelis Vitalis is Deputy Secretary, Trade and Economic. He was the APEC2021 Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM) Chair for New Zealand’s host year and in 2023 Vangelis was the SOM Chair for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

Vangelis was New Zealand’s Chief Negotiator who led the conclusion of negotiations for the New Zealand European Union Free Trade Agreement (EUNZFTA), CPTPP, the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (AANZFTA) and before that the Malaysia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement (MNZFTA). He was also a member of the negotiating teams for the New Zealand-China FTA and the P4 Agreement.

Prior to taking up his role in Wellington in 2017, Vangelis was New Zealand’s Permanent Representative (Ambassador) to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva where he chaired the agriculture negotiations in a personal capacity. In this role he helped draft the text of the historic Nairobi WTO Ministerial Decision(external link) to eliminate agricultural export subsidies. Vangelis has also been the Ambassador to the European Union and NATO in Brussels and has had postings to Canberra and Moscow.

Vangelis has worked outside the Ministry including as an economist in the Secretariat of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). He is a past member of the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Future Council on Trade and is currently a member of the WEF Trade and Investment Action Group and is also on the Steering Committee for the WEF Climate Trade Zero initiative. He has chaired in a personal capacity the OECD Committee on Trade and the Environment (2008-2017), the OECD Global Forum on Trade and Climate Change and is currently the New Zealand Envoy for the Small Advanced Economies’ Initiative.

A keen saltwater land-based fisherman, Vangelis is married with three children and speaks Greek, German and Russian. He is a longstanding (and suffering) supporter of the Wellington Phoenix Football Club.

Follow Vangelis on X @VangelisVNZ(external link)