Her Excellency Ms. Espinosa is an Ecuadorian academic, diplomat, and global leader in multilateral affairs. She served as the 73rd President of the United Nations General Assembly, becoming the
fourth woman and the first from Latin America and the Caribbean to hold this position. She served twice as Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Minister of National Defense of Ecuador, leading
complex bilateral and multilateral negotiations on climate, trade, regional security, and transnational
crime.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Espinosa worked with Indigenous communities in the Amazon and served
as Regional Director for South America at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
She was Ecuador’s first female Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York and later to the UN Office and other international organizations in Geneva.
Today, Ms. Espinosa continues to shape global agendas through her leadership and advisory roles.
She is President of Cities Alliance and Executive Director of GWL Voices. She serves on the Board
of Trustees of the International Crisis Group and the Nizami Ganjavi International Center and is a member of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Human Security, the High-Level
Advisory Council of the UN Alliance of Civilizations, the Leadership Council of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, among others.
Her distinctions include the Eleanor Roosevelt Award and recognition among the BBC’s 100 most inspiring and influential women.