María Fernanda Espinosa

H.E. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, a leading Ecuadorian politician and diplomat, served as the President of the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly. She has more than 20 years of multilateral experience in international negotiations, gender equality, climate change, and matters of peace and security. She has served Ecuador as Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of National Defense, and Coordinating Minister of Natural and Cultural Heritage and was the first female Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations in New York and the United Nations in Geneva. She is recognized as a global advocate of multilateralism and women’s rights and empowerment.