The new ambassador will be James Munro, an Arabic speaker and former military officer who has had previous postings in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, and Riyadh in Saudi Arabia.
"Our resident Ambassador will be charged with supporting New Zealand's non-combat training mission to Iraq and assessing how we can better support and build relations with the Iraqi government," Mr McCully said today.
The embassy would also be responsible for maintaining relations with the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq.
New Zealand has deployed just over 100 Defence Force personnel to Camp Taji just north of Baghdad in a non-combat training mission with the Australian Defence Force.
Iraq does not have an embassy in Wellington, but its ambassador in Canberra is also ambassador to New Zealand.
