The Role of the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps

Hosted by: AIIA ACT Branch & Association of Foreign Affairs and Trade Employees

The event will start on: Wednesday, 23 February 2011 5:30 PM

And will end on: Wednesday, 23 February 2011 7:00 PM

At Treaties Room, DFAT, Canberra

Treaties Room, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade , Canberra ACT

6261 9244.     act.branch@aiia.asn.au

Posted by: act   

The Argentine Ambassador and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, HE Mr Pedro Villagra Delgado, will address members of AFTE and the AIIA on the institution of the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps. The presentation will focus on the customary role of this position in diplomacy, its practice and functions in different countries (particularly in Australia), as well as its current relevance.

An introduction will be delivered by Ms Anne Plunkett, Chief of Protocol at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Mr Pedro Villagra Delgado is a career diplomat who joined the Argentine Foreign Service as Third Secretary after graduating with honours from the Argentine Foreign Service Institute in 1978. From 1980 to 1988 he served at the Permanent Mission of Argentina to the UN and from 1992 to 1996 as Consul General in London. At the Foreign Ministry in Buenos Aires he served at the Legal Advisers Office, as head of the Division for International Security, Nuclear and Space Affairs from 1996 to 2001, as Chief of Cabinet of the Foreign Minister during 2001 and Co-ordinator for Strategic Projects from 2002 to 2005. Mr Villagra Delgado participated and headed numerous Argentine delegations to international negotiations and conferences as well as an expert for the AIEA in Vienna on nuclear matters.

Mr Villagra Delgado took up his post in Australia in October 2005 and has been non-resident Ambassador to the Fiji Islands since 2007. Since July 2010, Mr Villagra Delgado has been Dean of the Diplomatic Corps in Canberra. He is a member of the Argentine Council of International Relations (CARI) and teaches Public International Law at the University of Buenos Aires.