GFDD Global Roundtable: Interview with Ecuador’s Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States, Ambassador Marco Albuja

To mark the latest edition of the GFDD Global Roundtables, Angie Martinez, diplomat and contributor to the Foundation, hosted Ambassador Marco Albuja, Ecuador’s permanent representative to the Organization of American States (OAS). The session which took place in the Washington D.C. office of GFDD focused on a number of issues including the financial crisis, the movement of labor to the US, the civic revolution initiated by the former President of Ecuador, Rafael
Correa, environmental governance reforms, peace and security and the recent election of President Lenín Moreno.

Commenting on the progress made by President Moreno’s predecessor, Ambassador Albuja explained how President Correa had successfully led a civic revolution in
Ecuador that “ensured everyone would have the same opportunities, be it in health or education”. The ambassador noted that 20,000 Ecuadorian students are currently studying in the top 200 universities across the world, with the government hoping that they will in due course return to Ecuador to apply their skills and knowledge to help support the development of the country.

Martinez also praised the Ambassador for his country’s advances on
environmental protection, being one of the first countries to have enshrined the protection of natural resources into its constitution.  The Ambassador then explained the importance of the recent FARC negotations in Columbia for the future development of Latin America as a region. He stressed that Ecuador represented one of several official “peace zones” in the region, looking to promote peace and security throughout the Americas.

Concluding the
session, Martinez and Ambassador Albuja discussed the priorities of newly elected President Moreno. Ambassador Albuja stressed that both President Moreno and former President Correa have been focused on eradicating poverty in the country and that their efforts stand to have “pulled 1.4 million people out of poverty”.

About Ambassador Marco Albuja
Ambassador Marco Albuja has been the Permanent Representative of Ecuador to
the Organization of American States since January 13, 2014. In 2009, Ambassador Albuja was made a member of the Board of Directors of the Ecuadorian Institute of Intellectual Property (Iepi) and a delegate to the Sectoral Security Cabinet . In addition to this, Ambassador Albuja is a representative of Ecuador before the Council of Delegates for the Union of South American Nations (USAN),an intergovernmental regional organization comprising 12 South American countries.

More information
http://gfddglobalroundtable.org