KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): General Electric (GE) has appointed Wouter Van Wersch as president and chief executive officer of the group's newly created Asia Pacific region.

GE said this new role is an extension of Van Wersch's current responsibilities as president and CEO of GE Asean, which he was appointed to following the integration of the Alstom energy activities into GE in 2015.

He will now oversee the group's operations in Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, besides the 10 Asean countries.

In a statement today, Van Wersch said the new Asia Pacific region offers a lot of exciting opportunities to drive business growth.

"It's a region that covers countries ranging from fast-growing emerging nations with ambitious infrastructure and development plans, to highly developed countries leading the way in the adoption of digital industrial solutions to raise their productivity and efficiency," he said.