NEW APPOINTMENTS IN THE FOREIGN MINISTRY

On instructions from President Enrique Peña Nieto, Foreign Secretary José Antonio Meade announced the following appointments in the Foreign Ministry.

As Legal Counsel, the President has appointed Max Alberto Diener Sala, who previously served as Advisor in the Foreign Ministry’s Directorate General for Consular Protection. He has also been Director for World Bank Projects in the Social Development Ministry; Deputy Director General for Budgetary Standards and Research and Legal Director General in the office of the Undersecretary of Expenditures at the Finance Ministry. In addition, he served as Deputy Attorney General for Legislation and Consultations and Undersecretary for Legal Affairs and Human Rights of the Interior Ministry.

Diener holds a law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He took a certificate course in Political Ideas and Institutions at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) and took graduate courses in International Relations at the Diplomatischen Akademie Wien in Austria.

Arnulfo Valdivia Machuca has been appointed as Director of the Institute for Mexicans Abroad. He had previously served as Coordinator of International Affairs for the Mexico state government and honorary representative of the Mexico state government in Europe and the UK.

Valdivia has a degree in International Business from the Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM). He has two masters’ degrees, one in European Economic Integration from the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and the second in Latin American Integration from the Stone Center for Latin American Studies at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana (USA). He also holds a PhD in Political Economy and a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the University of Cambridge.

Foreign Secretary Meade thanked the officers of the past administration for the professionalism and commitment with which they carried out their duties in the positions that they have now handed over to the new appointees.