Meet the new Peruvian Ambassador to the U.S.

The Government of Peru has appointed Mr. Carlos Pareja Rios as its new Ambassador to the United States of America.

Ambassador

Previously, Mr. Pareja served as Ambassador to countries: Spain (2000-2002), Switzerland (2003-2005) and Chile (2009-2014).

The experienced diplomat was based in Santiago (Chile) during the sensitive period emerged over the maritime-boundary dispute between both nations, submitted by Peru to the International Court of Justice at The Hague (2008).

The controversy was resolved in a concrete, unappealable and binding judgment on January 27, 2014.

Such historical period in Peruvian-Chilean relations was characterized by an intense dynamism in political, economic-commercial aspects, as well as unprecedented concertation among civil society forces, which favored the understanding between both nations.

Recent posts

Carlos Pareja served as Director-General at the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s Directorate General for Africa, Middle East and Gulf countries (2015–2016).

While based in Lima, he was responsible for Peru’s bilateral and regional policy with Africa, Middle East and the Arab Gulf countries. At that time, he also became senior official to both, the South America and Arab Countries Forum (ASPA) and the South America and Africa Forum (ASA).

Previously, the high-ranked diplomat was appointed Director-General at the Directorate General for the Americas in Lima, Peru (2014–2015), being responsible for political affairs linking the Peruvian government with countries in the Americas and Caribbean.

He was also responsible for affairs related to the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR for its acronym in Spanish) and the Community of Latin American and the Caribbean States (CELAC for its acronym in Spanish).

First Ambassadorial post

Mr. Pareja was promoted to Ambassador in 1999.

In March, he led the Peruvian delegation in Negotiations with Chile aimed to solve the outstanding issues related to the Peruvian-Chilean Boundary Treaty of 1929 and its Complementary Protocol.

Corresponding negotiations concluded with the signing of the “Act of Execution” on November 13th, 1999 and the concession —in favor of Peru— of port facilities in Chile’s city of Arica.

He served as member of the Peruvian-Ecuadorian Neighborhood Commission and Chairman of the Directorate for the Binational Development Plan for the Peru-Ecuador Border Region.

The official also participated in Peace Negotiations with Ecuador (1997-1999) as Executive Secretary of the Peruvian-Ecuadorian Border Integration Commission.

Beginning

Mr. Pareja was first appointed Political Counselor at the Embassy of Peru in Washington D.C. (1984-1990). Afterwards, he became Director for South American Affairs at the Foreign Affairs Ministry (1990-1993) and Minister Counselor at the Peruvian Embassy in Santiago (1993-1997).

The diplomat also served as Cabinet Chief of Foreign Affairs Deputy-Minister (1997-1998)

Background

Ambassador Pareja holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Universidad San Martín de Porres (1977), a Bachelor of Arts from Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru (1969) and a Master’s degree in Diplomacy and Foreign Relations from the Diplomatic Academy of Peru (1976).

He speaks Spanish, English and French.

Born on July 7, 1950, he is married to Consuelo Salinas and has two children.

(END) MVB

Published: 9/8/2016