Government of Rafael Correa
Under President Rafael Correa, María Fernanda Espinosa held multiple key roles in the Ecuadorian government, reflecting her versatility and expertise across various domains. From January to December 2007, she served as Minister for Foreign Affairs, Commerce, and Integration, where she established the New Ecuadorian Foreign Policy for 2007-2010. During her tenure, she reorganized the Ministry to include foreign trade responsibilities and promoted regional political and trade integration initiatives. Notably, she initiated bi-national coordination cabinets between Ecuador and Peru to address issues related to border development, security, defense, and economic cooperation, which furthered the implementation of the Peace Agreement signed with Peru in 1998.
Following her role as Foreign Minister, Espinosa was appointed Special Advisor to the President of the Constituent Assembly, Alberto Acosta, from December 2007 to February 2008. In this position, she played a crucial role in the constitutional process that led to Ecuador's 2008 Constitution, particularly in drafting sections on the rights of nature, indigenous peoples, and the plurinational state, as well as areas concerning security, defense, and international affairs.
In March 2008, María Fernanda became Ecuador’s first female Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, a position she held until September 2009. During her time as ambassador, she was appointed by the President of the General Assembly as Co-facilitator of the Special Working Group on the Revitalization of the Work of the General Assembly. Espinosa also led Ecuador’s participation in international negotiations addressing the 2008 financial crisis, culminating in the 2009 Conference on the World Financial and Economic Crisis and Its Impact on Development. Her contributions extended to environmental and climate change negotiations, and she actively engaged in discussions on South-South cooperation and system-wide coherence, including the establishment of UN Women.
From October 2009 till November 2012 she was Minister of Natural and Cultural Heritage, where she led the Yasuní-ITT Initiative. As the head of this sectoral cabinet, she oversaw the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Sports, Ministry of Tourism, and the Governing Council of the Galapagos Islands. In this capacity, she implemented policies to recover and safeguard Ecuador’s cultural and natural heritage, spearheaded the National Plan Against Racism and Discrimination, and represented Ecuador in international negotiation processes on climate change and sustainable development. Her leadership in the Yasuní ITT Initiative, which sought to avoid carbon dioxide emissions by leaving oil reserves untapped in exchange for international compensation, marked a significant contribution to global environmental discourse.
In November 2012, Espinosa was appointed Minister of National Defense, becoming the third woman to hold this position in Ecuador. She oversaw the Armed Forces during a sensitive period marked by internal conflict in neighboring Colombia. Espinosa led reforms in social security management, education, training, and health policies for military forces, and she was instrumental in creating the National Defense Political Agenda 2014-2017. Her tenure also saw the establishment of a Gender Equality Policy within the Armed Forces and the convening of the first international cooperation network of Women Ministers and Leaders of Defense. Espinosa’s efforts modernized the Armed Forces, adapting them to the new constitutional framework and addressing contemporary security threats such as cybersecurity, organized crime, and natural disasters.
In October 2014, María Fernanda Espinosa was appointed Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva, Switzerland, a position she held until May 2017. During this period, she was elected chair of the Human Rights Council’s working group on negotiating a legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and human rights. Her work was a milestone in the Council's deliberations, as it was the first time the implications of transnational corporations on human rights were discussed for consideration in a legally binding instrument. In her capacity as Permanent Representative, she defended the Ecuadorian Government's decision to grant political asylum to Julian Assange in a discussion on arbitrary detention in September 2016 as a matter of international law and human rights.
Espinosa played a significant role in international bodies such as the ILO, WHO, UNCTAD, and others, contributing to the institutional reform of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the articulation of the Human Rights Council's work with the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda. She coordinated Ecuador's participation in key international mechanisms and conventions, including those related to disarmament, migration, and environmental protection. She served as lead negotiator for the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), and the United Nations Climate Change Conferences of the Parties in Copenhagen (COP 15), Cancun (COP 16), Paris (COP 21), and Bonn (COP 23), where she led the common position of the 34 members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
Government of Lenin Moreno
On 24 May 2017 Espinosa was appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of President Lenín Moreno.
