Ambassador Rusli Noor was born in Bandung, Indonesia, on 1 May 1927 and earned an MA in Political Science from Columbia University in New York City.

Mr Rusli joined government service in 1950. Two years later he was posted to the Indonesian Embassy in London as Assistant to the Commercial Counselor and later as Administrative Officer in the Economic Sector. He served as Trade Attaché in Moscow from 1954 to 1956, before returning to the Foreign Ministry in Jakarta to join the staff of the Foreign Minister.

In 1965, Mr Rusli was transferred to the Hague to be Economic Counselor. After a tour as Director for Investment and Financial Cooperation in Jakarta he returned to the Indonesian Embassy in the Hague as Charge d ’Affairs.

In 1974, he was appointed ambassador to Denmark and Norway. Ambassador Rusli served as Director General for Foreign Economic, Social and Cultural Relations in the Foreign Ministry from 1978 to 1983. He was posted as ambassador to Brussels from 1983 to 1986, when he returned to Jakarta to be Director General for Foreign Economic Relations in the Foreign Ministry from 1986 to 1988.

Ambassador Rusli was the Secretary General of the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta from 1988 to 1992.