Ecuador: outcomes and challenges for the Citizens Revolution

The Australian National Centre for Latin American Studies (ANCLAS) Policy Forum Series The ANCLAS Policy Forum is an event series which brings policy-makers from Latin America together with Australia-based scholars, journalists, diplomats, and policy makers to discuss current and emerging issues in the region. Ambassador Leonardo Arízaga will present the historic transformation that Ecuador is undergoing and explain how these major evolutions are being pursued in the face of the ongoing challenges facing the country. Vice Minister Arízaga will also explain Ecuador’s development model and the benefits it has brought to the majority of the country’s citizens. Ambassador Arízaga is presently the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador. He holds a Bachelor of Science from the School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University, USA, and a Doctorate in International Studies from the Central University of Ecuador. He has had training courses at the Diplomatic Academy of Ecuador, the Diplomatic Academy "Andrés Bello", Chile, in 1990, and in the Politics and International Relations Faculty of the University of Kent at Canterbury, UK, in 1999. He started his career as a diplomat in 1987. Since then he has held different positions in bilateral and multilateral affairs within the Ministry of Foreign Relations of his country, being Secretary for Bilateral Relations from 2009-10. He served as a diplomat in Austria, Slovakia and Perú. He has also been Deputy Representative to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, UNIDO; the International Atomic Energy, IAEA; and the United Nation Office in Vienna, UNOV. In 2010 he was appointed as Ambassador to China where he served until 2012 when he was named Ambassador to Venezuela until 2013. He ended that posting for the present position of Vice Chancellor of Foreign Affairs. He speaks English and German. He was born in 1964, is married and has two children, presently living in Quito. The forum will be followed by light food and beverages through the kind support of the Embassy of Ecuador. Free and open to the public. For catering purposes only please RSVP to anclas@anu.edu.au by COB Monday 11th May 2015.