The Diplomat in Spain

Luis Tejada./ Photo: AECID

L.Ayllón / A.Rodríguez. 26/07/2018

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, appointed the diplomat Luis Tejada, Director of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) under Alfonso Dastis’ term, to be the next Spanish Ambassador to Finland, The Diplomat learned from sources.

Tejada will replace Manuel de la Cámara in Helsinki, who will reach retirement age next September 18th and must leave office. The new Ambassador to Finland became in 2016 the first director of the AECID since 2013.

The previous official in charge of that position had been Juan López-Doriga, who was dismissed in July 2013 after the then Foreign Minister, José Manuel García-Margallo, decided to grant executive functions to the Secretary General of International Cooperation, Gonzalo Robles, who assumed the management as Vice President of the Governing Council of the AECID. When Robles was elected Senator and Spain was mired in the political blockade, the AECID had no Director until September 2016.

In terms of cooperation, Luis Tejada was Cooperation Adviser of the Permanent Representation of Spain before the EU, Deputy Director General of the Office of Planning and Evaluation of the Secretariat of State for International Cooperation (a position from which he carried out the planning and evaluation of the Spanish Cooperation and the preparation of the examination of the Development Assistance Committee) and permanent delegate attached to the Delegation of Spain to the OECD, the body that audits the Spanish Cooperation.

Regarding his international experience, the next ambassador to Finland was a counselor in the Secretariat of State for the European Union in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and he was the second head of both the Embassy of Spain in Syria and in Gabon. Likewise, he was Deputy General Director of General Affairs of the EU, again in the Secretariat of State for the European Union, and until his appointment as director of Cooperation with Asia and Africa was, between 2011 and 2015, Ambassador of Spain to Bangladesh.