RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The next Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador will be Mauricio Montalvo, a career diplomat with extensive experience in foreign service and whose name was already sounding for days as the main contender, as announced by President-elect Guillermo Lasso.
“He puts at the service of the country an extensive diplomatic career that has demonstrated capacity to lead a foreign policy agenda, guarantee rights, and provide quality services”, said Lasso, who on Thursday revealed the last names of his cabinet.
Graduated as a lawyer at the Catholic University of Ecuador, Montalvo later studied for a master’s degree at Harvard University, where he became a classmate of former U.S. President Barack Obama, according to local media.
The new Ecuadorian foreign minister has been part of his country’s foreign service since 1982 and until a few days ago served as ambassador to Australia.
He has also served throughout his career at the embassies in New York, Washington, and Paris. He has held several positions at the Ministry’s headquarters, such as Director of Communication and Multilateral Policy and Director of Border Relations with Colombia, and Undersecretary of International Cooperation.
He has also taught at the Faculty of Law and Social Sciences of the University of the Americas (UDLA). He has been a visiting professor at the University of Puerto Rico.
Lasso will assume the Presidency next Monday in a ceremony at the National Assembly in which the outgoing President, Lenín Moreno, will hand him the presidential sash, on a day that coincides with the national date of the Battle of Pichincha, which led to the country’s independence almost two centuries ago.
“We are ready to change Ecuador. We will honor the will of the citizens with efficient and responsible work,” Moreno said as he lined up one after another the names of the ministers, 18 in total.
Another of the appointments is Julio José Prado as new Minister of Production, Foreign Trade, Investment and Fisheries, one of the most relevant portfolios for the country given its dependence on exports for foreign currency inflow.
No less important, due to the Andean country’s dependence on oil, is that of Energy and Mines, which will be in the hands of Roberto Salas.
So far, Lasso had confirmed in public the eight ministers of the so-called Social Front and, through networks and different announcements in the media, the Minister of Finance, Simon Cueva, and the Minister of Defense, Fernando Donoso.
More recently, he announced the names of Niels Olsen as head of Tourism, Gustavo Manrique of Environment, and Vianna Maino as head of Telecommunications.
Lasso, a center-right politician who had to lean to the center to win the election last April 11, has called for the “Ecuador of the Encounter, ” a way of governing for all and reconciliation after almost 15 years of political tensions in the country.