World leading aluminium producer China Hongqiao Group Ltd announced late last week the hiring of Ron Knapp to be the firm’s international adviser starting next year.

Speaking to reporters at the China Aluminum Week forum in Qingdao on Friday, Knapp said this position will be his next stop after he steps down as International Aluminium Institute (IAI) secretary general at the close of this year.

“The role is to assist Chairman Zhang Bo in taking the Hongqiao story beyond China and into the world,” Knapp said of his new position at Hongqiao.

Knapp will office in Hongqiao’s headquarters in Hong Kong, but he will also spend time overseeing operations in Shandong. Knapp is also likely to travel to Australia and London to represent the company as well.

Knapp ends a dozen-year tenure at the International Aluminium Institute, where he began as secretary general in December 2008. Prior to his service there, Knapp was the Executive Director of the Australian Aluminium Council, a position he took in 2002. Previously he served as the Chief Executive of the World Coal Institute for four years after holding a position at the Minerals Council of Australia beginning in 1987. He will be succeeded in the position by Miles Prosser, who is joining the Institute fresh off his tenure at the Australian Aluminium Council. （From Aluminum Insider)