Education

Lim earned his Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Economics from the City of London Polytechnic in 1976, and his Post Graduate Certificate of Education from Keele University in 1977.^[4]

Political career

Lim joined the government service in 1977 as an education officer, and from 1981 and 1985 he was the principal of a secondary school. He served as the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources' Director-General for International Relations and Trade Development from February 2001 to July 2005. He was appointed as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Deputy Permanent Secretary in September 2005.^[4]

Lim represented Brunei as the Senior Official for the ASEAN Economic Community Pillar (SEOM), the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) throughout his time in office. Since 2001, he has been a member of the High Level Task Force on ASEAN Economic Integration (HLTF-EI), and in 2017, he served as its chair. He served as Brunei's chief negotiator for both the P4 negotiations, which preceded the TPP negotiations, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP). Prior to that, he served as both the Co-Chair and Chief Negotiator for Brunei during the discussions for the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Area (AANZFTA) and the Brunei Darussalam-Japan Economic Partnership Agreement (BJEPA). He presided over the board of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA) from June 2011 to June 2017. He served on the Asian Development Bank's (ADB) External Advisory Board for the ASEAN 2030 Study.^[4]

Following a declaration by Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on 18 November 2017, Lim would be in charge of the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta. On November 14, Lee announced his selection as the new ASEAN secretary-general in a speech marking the beginning of Singapore's 2018 chairmanship of the 10-nation organization. Lê Lương Minh of Vietnam, the current ASEAN Secretary-General, will be replaced in January 2018 by Lim.^[5]

The ASEAN agenda for the period after 2025 should be more dynamic and able to introduce new initiatives and put policies into place in response to shifting market and economic conditions, according to Dato Lim, who wrote the article that appeared in the Jakarta Post on 31 December 2202. He stated:^[6]

This is because of the global and regional headwinds that impact the future of the ASEAN community, including problems like global trade tensions, climate change, the digital divide and even the pandemic. Taken together, these challenges have exposed gaps or weaknesses in the ability of ASEAN to address some of its goals, such as participation in global value chains, enhancement of macro-financial coordination and narrowing development gaps

— Dato Paduka Lim Jock Hoi, Jakarta Post

Dato Lim will depart Jakarta at the end of December 2022 after serving as the organization's top diplomat for five years. Several regional and worldwide crises have occurred during this time, ranging from the COVID-19 epidemic and the ongoing conflict in Myanmar to the global repercussions of Russia's fight in Ukraine.^[7]

National

• Order of Seri Paduka Mahkota Brunei Second Class (DPMB) – Dato Paduka (2007)
• Order of Setia Negara Brunei Third Class (SNB) – (2000)
• Long Service Medal (PKL) – (2001)
• Excellent Service Medal (PIKB) – (1987)

Foreign

•  South Korea:
  • Order of Diplomatic Service Merit Second Grade – (6 April 2022)