New Permanent Representative of Ecuador Presents Credentials to the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva

Cristian Espinosa Cañizares, the new Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his credentials to Tatiana Valovaya, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Espinosa had been serving as Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations in New York since September 2020. He was Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility from 2019 to August 2020. He was Director of Interinstitutional Relations, in charge of the economic section of the Ministry, in 2018 and 2019.

Among other posts, Mr. Espinosa served as Metropolitan Director of International Relations at the municipality of Quito from 2014 to 2018; President of the Council of Chambers and Associations of Production of Ecuador in 2013 and 2014; Executive Director of the Ecuadorian American Chamber of Commerce from 2010 to 2014; and Advisor to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Integration from 2008 to 2010.

A career diplomat since 1987 specialising in international trade and trade negotiations, Mr. Espinosa was a Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of Ecuador to the World Trade Organization in Geneva from 1997 to 2003, and was a member of Ecuador’s negotiating team for accession to the World Trade Organization from 1992 to 1996. He has served as a panellist and arbitrator on trade disputes at the World Trade Organization and bilateral trade agreements from 2004 to present. He served as Second Secretary at the Embassy of Ecuador to Japan, in charge of economic and commercial affairs, from 1988 to 1992. He was also an associate professor at the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences in Quito as well as other universities from 2006 to 2014.

Mr. Espinosa has a master’s degree in public administration from Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government (1997); and bachelor and master degrees in philosophy and economics from Boston University (1986). He was born in Quito, Ecuador in 1961 and is married with three children.

Produced by the United Nations Information Service in Geneva for use of the media;
not an official record. English and French versions of our releases are different as they are the product of two separate coverage teams that work independently.

CR23.001E