In celebrating International Women’s Day it is ISEP’s pleasure to announce that at our 40th Anniversary Reception during the 2019 NAFSA Conference in Washington, D.C., we will be honored with remarks from Ambassador Martha Bárcena Coqui - Mexico’s first woman to serve as Ambassador to the United States.
Relationships between people and between nations are at the heart of the outcomes of international education. Ambassador Bárcena’s education and career is a testament to the power of women leading diplomacy.
Ambassador Bárcena has a degree in Communication Sciences from the Universidad Iberoamericana, in Mexico City, and a degree in Philosophy, summa cum laude, from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. She holds a Master’s Degree in International Studies (Diplomatic School, Spain) and has a Master’s Degree in Philosophy specializing in Political Philosophy (Universidad Iberoamericana). She speaks English, French and Italian and has knowledge of German, Danish and Chinese.
She is a career diplomat since 1979, and has been Consul in Barcelona; Ambassador to the Kingdom of Denmark non-resident to the Kingdom of Norway and the Republic of Iceland; Ambassador to the Republic of Turkey, non-resident to Georgia and the Republics of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan; and more recently as a Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations Agencies based in Rome.
Ambassador Bárcena has also served in different key positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, such as Advisor to the Executive Director of the Mexican Institute of International Cooperation, as well as the Director in Chief of Multilateral Affairs, General Director of Cultural Affairs and Historical Diplomatic Acquis (1986- 1989), and as the Head of the Department of Migrant Workers and Border Cooperation in the General Directorate for North America.
Ambassador Bárcena has been Mexico’s delegate to the UN, the OAS, UNESCO, FAO, WFP, IFAD and ICAO, as well as head of Delegation in sessions of the Forum on Migration and Development. She has participated in multiple international conferences, including the G-20 and the World Humanitarian Summit.
She is the author of several articles on the reconceptualization of security, globalization, United Nations peacekeeping operations, the role of civil society in international relations, culture and diplomacy, and Mexico-EU relations, as well as the Agenda 2030. We look forward to our reception at the Mexican Cultural Institute on Tuesday, May 28 where we will celebrate our anniversary and our long-term ties with our Mexican members.
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