H.E. Mr. Christiaan Kröner, the former Netherlands Ambassador, inter alia, to the United States, France, Italy and Israel, commenced his term as the PCA’s twelfth Secretary-General on September 1, 2008. Mr. Kröner succeeds Mr. Tjaco T. van den Hout, who resigned from office to return to diplomatic service. The PCA’s Administrative Council, made up of representatives of its member states, appointed Mr. Kröner by acclamation to a five-year term at its 178th meeting in April 2008.