^{Interview by Simon Firth
October 2006}

For trade and security specialist Keith Wilson, the idea of working for a global organisation always seemed like a pipedream. Charged until earlier this year with the role of Acting Head of Government Relations and Political Affairs, at the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, Keith has now returned to his hometown of Adelaide and shared his reflections on his 8 years abroad and the triggers that brought him home.

“Adelaide does very well in equipping people for going and doing these unusual things,” Keith explains.

“But does that international experience actually equip you very well for returning?”

After completing an undergraduate law degree and practising as a solicitor in Adelaide, Keith moved to Canberra in 1990 to work in international trade law for the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department. In the winter of 1998 he left for Leiden University in the Netherlands, to pursue further study in the area of Air and Space Law.

“As it turned out that wasn’t the most interesting part of the course and so I got involved more with the humanitarian side of international law.”

Just as many Australian businesses face the challenge of breaking into export markets, Keith found the transition into his new environment to be unfamiliar.

“It’s very well set up for the existing population and again its about breaking in, so when you come from the outside it’s not very well set-up for you - although its funny the things that you complain about being the hardest often open up amazing things that you wouldn’t have otherwise experienced.

“Similarly, when I moved to The Hague it was pretty hard to find accommodation initially, so I ended up sharing a place with a guy from Trinidad who was a security guard and the whole apartment was decorated in Cricket memorabilia, which was just a bizarre experience.”

In the final year of studying for his Masters Keith applied to work as a Political Affairs Officer within the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and subsequently won the position.

The OPCW is an international agency widely seen as highly effective in the promotion and implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention treaty in 180 countries around the world.

“I remember I finished work at midnight one night, went in at 9am for the interview the next morning and hardly had any time to prepare, but my mindset was fresh so I think it was just a lot of luck.”

Beginning his employment with the OPCW in 1999, I asked Keith whether or not the organisation’s mission has changed in light of the global crises of the past decade.

“The mission did change…When I first went there (OPCW), chemical weapons and weapons of mass destruction and terrorism, I mean they were discussed, but they weren’t front page news. That changed pretty quickly and a big part of it was the focus on terrorists and their access to material and destructive material, but one of the more subtle changes was moving from the noble principles idea of, yes we must get rid of these horrible things, to making these treaties work in practice,” he says.

“The criticism of international law is that it’s not enforceable, but there is an example in the OPCW of something that’s mutating from what starts as a global principle and is then being translated into something meaningful in each different country.”

The decision to move back to Adelaide was a consideration that Keith and his family contemplated for some time before putting their plans into action.

“I think the first personal trigger was what’s next?

“Some things are counter intuitive, you can be working in what seems to be an international and exciting environment and you think, you know, I’ll continue in this and I’ll go and work in some other international environment, but are you really just getting comfortable with the idea of yourself as an international player?

“When I say it’s counter intuitive, I mean to come back to Adelaide where life is comfortable and yet you’re going to have to face some discomfort in re-integrating and you have to work out how what you’ve done has any application or meaning to the place you came from.”

While moving the family back to Adelaide after spending more than 16 years away was never going to be an effortless experience, as a repatriate, Keith explains “one should recognise that the challenge is that in large part you’re going to have to be the one to make it happen.”

Keith has established GRIP Consultants – a Government Relations and International Policy firm that assists not only governments in meeting their international commitments but also industries in their dealings with those governments, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, in areas including trade, security, transport and legal and governance issues.

“I suspect that at this stage I’m going to have to compromise and try to mix the grand plan with the reality. I think though that it’s likely to be a bit of up and down for the next six to 12 months and then it’s a question of whether or not it can work.”

Keith is just one example of many interesting and diverse ExpatriateConnect (EC) mentors and this profile reflects the deep insight that many of our fellow Australians experience when living and working abroad.

If you would like to connect with a mentor like Keith, to improve your business’ success in global markets, register your company at www.expatriateconnect.com.