New foreign minister meets with Dilma today.

The inauguration ceremony for the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, will take place at the Palácio do Planalto, and the transfer of office will occur at the Palácio Itamaraty on Wednesday. The new minister comes from New York, where he served as Brazil's representative to the UN, a position that will now be filled by former minister Antonio Patriota.

August 27, 2013, 13:27 PMUpdated July 10, 2018, 15:10 pm

The inauguration ceremony for the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, will take place at the Planalto Palace, and the transfer of office will occur at the Itamaraty Palace on Wednesday; the chancellor comes from New York, where he served as Brazil's representative to the UN, a position that will now be filled by former minister Antonio Patriota (Photo: Leonardo Lucena).

Renata Giraldi
Reporter from Agência Brasil

Brasilia – The new Foreign Minister, Ambassador Luiz Alberto Figueiredo Machado, 57, is on his way to Brasília. He was in New York, in the United States. The ambassador's advisors expect him to arrive today (27) for a meeting with President Dilma Rousseff.

Next, a date must be set for the inauguration ceremony and transfer of power. The inauguration ceremony will be at the Palácio do Planalto (Presidential Palace) and the transfer of power at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Palácio Itamaraty (Itamaraty Palace). Traditionally, the transfer takes place hours after the inauguration ceremony.

A career diplomat, Figueiredo Machado was the chief negotiator at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, in June 2012, in Rio de Janeiro. At the time, he distinguished himself through his skill and earned the president's trust by patiently negotiating with those who resisted agreements at Rio+20. Dilma and Machado met at the Conference of the Parties (COP) in Denmark, when she was Chief of Staff in Lula's government.

Following Rio+20, Figueiredo Machado was appointed Brazil's representative to the United Nations (UN). Among diplomats, this appointment to the UN is considered a significant professional recognition, as the organization is the main international body for multilateral negotiations. The position will now be filled by Antonio Patriota, who will be traveling to New York in the coming days.

The United Nations headquarters in New York encompasses the UN Presidency, the Secretary-General's office, and the Security Council. However, there are also forums for discussion and decision-making in Vienna (Austria), Geneva (Switzerland), Nairobi (Kenya), and The Hague (Netherlands).

Editing: Aécio Amado