11 Feb 2015

Tonga PM appoints advisor from NZ

5:22 pm on 11 February 2015

The new Tongan prime minister has made a researcher who had been working in the New Zealand dairy industry an advisor to his government.

Viliami Taufa, who in the 1970s worked as a civil servant in Tonga, has worked in New Zealand for the past 38 years.

He is a member of prime minister Akilisi Pohiva's Democratic Party and regularly contributed to the party newspaper, the Kele'a.

The prime minister's office says Mr Taufa has skills in political economy and can contribute to Tonga's socio-economic development.