The government of the United Kingdom has appointed its new ambassador to Argentina. David Cairns is expected to replace the country’s sitting representative, Kirsty Hayes, in September.

Since 2019, Cairns has served as vice president of Equinor, a Norwegian multinational energy company. Before that, starting in 2015, he was the British ambassador to Sweden.

Hayes, who took up the position of British ambassador to Argentina in September 2021, will be transferring to another Diplomatic Service appointment, according to an official statement.

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Cairns joined the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO, now replaced by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) in 1993, serving in Tokyo during the 1990s as Second Secretary Commercial and in the European Union as Head of Public Diplomacy.

He was also the First Secretary of the World Trade Organization in Geneva from 2002 to 2006, before moving back to Tokyo to serve as Director of Trade and Investment until 2010. He then worked at the FCO as the Director of Estates, Security, and Corporate Services.