It was 22 degrees in Ecuador itself, but as Ecuador's ambassador Diego Fernando Morejon Pazmino In Berlin on Wednesday (August 14) to mark the 215th anniversary of the country's independence, he had caught the hottest day of the year: 33 degrees. Not all of the fellow ambassadors, German guests and Ecuadorian compatriots appeared in this heat wearing suits and ties like the ambassador himself. On the sunlit terrace of Hotel H12, located diagonally opposite the embassy on Joachimsthaler Straße, the diplomat bravely held on.

Drug-related crime, abstinence from oil production in line with the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals and the country's foreign policy engagement in multilateral issues were his central topics. Ecuador is currently a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council for the fourth time — and is clearly proud of it. The country chaired several negotiating forums to combat climate change.

Ecuador is currently leading the working group in Geneva, which is tasked with developing binding instruments to eliminate plastic pollution in the oceans. Here, Ecuador works with Germany, Ghana and Vietnam as well as within the framework of the United Nations environmental conferences (UNEA5 and UNEA5.2). “We hope that these negotiations will be completed in 2025 and that the diplomatic conference on their implementation will take place on the Galapagos Islands as a symbol of global environmental sustainability,” said the ambassador.

Ambassador Morejon thanked Germany for the fact that Ecuador is one of six Latin American countries that are directly supported by Germany.

The ambassador did not skip the sensitive issue of drug-related crime: “Another area in which Germany has offered Ecuador solidarity and cooperation is security. Ecuadorian exports are affected by the contamination of cargoes with narcotics as a result of transnational organized crime. ”

The ambassador recalled that Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser had visited Ecuador earlier this year to see the effects of criminal activities for herself.

“If freight containers shipped to Europe, to Germany, are contaminated with drugs, it is because there are buyers for them in this part of the world.” It is therefore necessary to fight the problem together. For this reason, the mayors of Hamburg, Rotterdam and Antwerp also traveled to Ecuador. Because their ports also receive loads from Ecuador, and they also have the same risk of contamination. “We hope to be able to sign these cooperation agreements on such a sensitive issue in the coming months. ”

Meanwhile, Ecuador's ambassador has already been a guest on “diplo.international”, the talk show on TV Berlin, in which journalist Ewald König interviews ambassadors and presents them. Here is the link to the conversation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VIzTmbQkmk8

 Red.

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