MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Di Tella old hand back at the Argentine foreign ministry

Petrella was deputy foreign minister to Guido Di Tella between 1992 and 1996, and later Argentine ambassador at the United Nations, 1996/1999

Argentine former deputy foreign minister and ambassador before the United Nations, Fernando Enrique Petrella has been appointed head of the country's Foreign Service Institute, ISEN, according to Decree 176/2018.

 ”It is convenient to count with the collaboration of the extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador, (Petrella) who is very knowledgeable in affairs relative to specific functions of the Foreign ministry, as Director of the Foreign Service Institute“, reads the decree

Petrella will head ISEN which is responsible for selecting and preparing future Argentine diplomats and forming foreign service staff, besides producing and releasing documents on current world affairs.

Petrella was deputy foreign minister to Guido Di Tella between 1992 and 1996, and later Argentine ambassador at the United Nations, 1996/1999, during the administrations of ex president Carlos Menem.

He was retired but was called back to lead ISEN.

On taking office at a ceremony in the foreign ministry, ambassador Petrella said he was committed to ensuring ISEN remains ”a bastion of quality and prestige“, as it has been historically.

”Nothing replaces a staff member at his overseas post, but nowadays he needs to be more alert and more dedicated to his job, which is to serve the Argentine people, returning greater results to improve the well being and life quality conditions for our people“

ISEN is over half a century old and its level of excellence and capability has international recognition. Every year ISEN organizes an open, free contest for aspiring diplomats, and those selected are then put through a very grueling instruction process, which is permanently updated throughout the career of the diplomats

Foreign minister Jorge Faurie described Petrella as ”one of the great ambassadors of the Argentine foreign service, with a distinguished professional performance, and a model which we can take as reference”