Mark Sinclair is a career diplomat. He has served offshore in Tokyo, Honiara, Canberra and Geneva. His most recent offshore assignments were as ambassador to Japan and Mexico.
He had a series of trade roles from 2001 in New Zealand's WTO mission in Geneva, as director of MFAT’s trade negotiations division and as chief negotiator for the trans-Pacific Partnership negotiation. He was also New Zealand’s climate change ambassador briefly after his return from Tokyo. He was MFAT deputy secretary responsible for the Americas and Asia from early 2020 until September this year.
He is now New Zealand chief negotiator for the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, a Biden administration initiative involving 14 Indo-Pacific countries with a strong focus on new economy issues including climate and trade.