Foreign Affairs Minister Alberto van Klaveren heads the inauguration of the Andrés Bello Diplomatic Academy's new academic year

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Alberto van Klaveren, greeted today the new students of the Andrés Bello Diplomatic Academy (ACADE), in the context of the inauguration of its academic year. Also in attendance were the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Gloria de la Fuente; the Undersecretary of International Economic Relations, Claudia Sanhueza; and the Director of ACADE, María del Carmen Domínguez, among other authorities.

As a welcoming remarks, the Minister expressed that "I am very pleased to see the interest of professional men and women who come from various areas of knowledge to join the public service in the exercise of diplomacy. This is a demanding task and even more so in these times".

In this sense, he added that "we live in a rapidly changing world, a world in which not only the need to be up to date in international politics is increasing, but also to acquire soft skills to exercise peace, leadership and also flexibility to apply firmness in the defence of a position, but also flexibility to reach agreements. This is the essence of diplomacy".

For her part, Undersecretary Gloria de la Fuente affirmed that "the formative axes in the Academy reflect the priorities of national foreign policy, since the main lines are feminist foreign policy, based on equality and inclusion; turquoise foreign policy and care for the environment; and the promotion and defence of human rights".

"We welcome an academic year in which a willingness to cooperate and collaborate regionally will be key. All of this is part of what we see as an urgent need to strengthen each other and our relations at a time of great regional and global challenges," he concluded.

The ACADE 2023 generation is made up of seven women and eight men, from different parts of the country and from different professional backgrounds, who, after a two-year study process, will become part of the country's Foreign Service.