His Excellency

Born and raised just two hours from Quito, the Ambassador was raised one of seven children. Taking part in an exchange student programme to Maryland in the US in 1984, he had an opportunity to observe political life up close. “The father of my host family was the Dean of International Relations at Maryland University. He influenced me a lot; I went with him to observe various meetings in Congress, which got me thinking about diplomacy.”

Ambassador Valdivieso’s diplomatic career began after he graduated from Law School in Quito, and joined the Diplomatic Academy at Ecuador’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Academia has been a constant throughout. Over the years, he completed a master’s in international law at Stockholm University, and is currently a PhD candidate at Granada University in Spain. “I would like to dedicate more time to this,” he considers. “But before I arrived in London, I was Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility, so it was impossible to have the time to combine studies and the job.”

He describes this recent role as a massive challenge, which covered not only foreign affairs, but consular and migration issues too. “When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, we understood we had around 300 Ecuadorians living in Ukraine, but we quickly discovered over 1,000 people were living there. In less than 24 hours, I coordinated and led a group of Ecuadorian diplomats to the Ukrainian border in Poland to lead the evacuation and return these Ecuadorians home. It was 24/7 work in minus temperatures, and we barely slept for a month.” He recalls how Ecuador was the first Latin American country to condemn Russia’s actions. “This was a challenge because our exports to Russia are quite large, but it was important to respect our principles of international law.”

He also had to tackle the ongoing issue of Ecuador’s “irregular migration. Ecuadorians travel to the US via the Mexican border, which is dangerous,” he explains. “There are people trafficking organisations, and you hear very sad stories. The challenge was to work with the US and provide alternative options for Ecuadorians to travel through the correct migration channels.”

During this time, Ecuador also became a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, a role it completes in December this year. “Accordingly, we prepared work characterised by Ecuador’s diplomacy: impartial, neutral foreign policy based on the UN Charter and international law. It was a lot of work, and we reinforced our teams in New York and Quito to support this. I think Ecuador is doing a great job.”

Now in London, Ambassador Valdivieso highlights that “the Embassy here is one of Ecuador’s most important missions abroad. We have long established diplomatic relations with the UK, even before Ecuador existed. Next year, we celebrate 200 years of diplomatic relations.”

Trade and investment are top of the agenda for his work in the capital. “Increasing our exports to the UK is important for us, and we also need investments from the UK into Ecuador to continue to rise. We are working with the British Ecuadorian Chamber of Commerce in Quito to achieve this.” Furthermore, he notes, “Charles Darwin’s famous visit to the Galapagos Islands has meant cultural links between the UK and Ecuador are strong, providing a good basis for the relationship between our two countries.” The Embassy recently hosted an exhibition dedicated to English mountaineer, author, and explorer, Edward Whymper (1840-1911), who made the first ascent of the Chimborazo, the highest volcano in Ecuador. “Thankfully, I have a great team here at the mission, and together we work with the 25,000 Ecuadorians living in the UK, so our consulate is quite active.”

Given that the UK is also a member of the UN Security Council, Ambassador Vayas  explains that this is another arena in which the two countries are working closely together. “We share principles of international law and democratic values, while promoting and defending human rights. Of course, we have some countries that we have more in common with than others, but it is still important that we talk to everybody and keep the balance of the UN charter and follow international law. My country must leave a positive legacy at the Security Council.” He continues, “Ecuador believes that, unfortunately, climate change will affect security and the peace in the future. But there are some countries that don’t agree, therefore it’s a challenging issue.”

Climate is a subject he is passionate about. “The whole world is being affected by the triple crisis: climate change, loss of biodiversity and pollution. Every day we see the negative and horrible effects of climate change. Ecuador has been quite active in the negotiations, but we are also concerned about implementation of the agreements. We need to be ambitious too, but being ambitious doesn’t mean being unrealistic. We are working together in a positive spirit to combat climate change.”