Vodafone appoints Joakim Reiter as group external affairs director

Vodafone has appointed Joakim Reiter as group external affairs director with effect from 1 August.

He will join the group executive committee from that date and will report to chief executive Vittorio Colao.

Reiter will join the company in April for a transitional period as director designate and will succeed Matthew Kirk, who has notified Vodafone of his intention to retire.

Until recently, Reiter was an assistant secretary-general of the United Nations and the deputy secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. His previous roles include deputy director-general of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sweden's ambassador to the World Trade Organization, head of the Trade Section within the Swedish Representative Office to the European Union and an EU negotiator with DG TRADE at the European Commission.

Colao said: "Joakim has extensive experience of multilateral trade negotiation and diplomatic and political engagement at the highest levels. We are delighted to welcome him to Vodafone."

Earlier, Vodafone said it will create 2,100 jobs across the UK as it expands its existing customer service centres.

At 1214 GMT, the shares were flat at 203.78p.