The world is going through increasingly complex moments on the international scene, which represent important challenges that need to be analyzed and understood with professionalism and experience. Given this, domestic and foreign policy decisions must be made, with initiatives for diplomatic action by the career foreign service that allow Ecuador to achieve its national goals of sovereignty, security and development.

International factors decisively affect nations from within in a world of geopolitical rivalries, wars, terrorism and indiscriminate use of power.

The end of globalization brings with it the creation of alliances and blocs with the new reality of the world order. All this requires long-term public-private strategies that enable us to suppress negative actions against our country and its interests.

Insecurity is undoubtedly the biggest concern of Ecuadorians and the measures the next government will take regarding the national and international situation will be fundamental.

Insecurity cannot be solved if our neighbors are the largest producers of cocaine in the world and supply millions of consumers in the United States and the European Union. Our biggest problem is the insatiable demand for illegal alkaloids. Without a diplomatic initiative leading the fight against drug trafficking, Ecuador will always depend on the decisions of others.

We need to have a clear narrative that this situation is the co-responsibility of government procurement markets and that they must adopt solutions to the addiction problem that millions of their citizens have.

Migration is a national and global tragedy. There will be no solution without work in our countries and without legislation in the recipient countries from which millions of workers profit, often exploited for not having the necessary documents. The presidential meeting convened in Mexico will deal with the issue of hundreds of thousands of migrants, but it will not solve the problem if there are no measures by the United States to regulate and order migration. The polarization of Congress and the incompetence of the executive branch prevent the achievement of appropriate solutions.

Ecuador will be a member of the United Nations Security Council until December 2024 and the new government must maintain positions based on the principles of Ecuadorian foreign policy. This should not be negotiable, since the defense of principle has allowed us to act firmly and coherently across the multilateral spectrum. It is an important international position, which can also bring opportunities to connect with the leadership of the international community to achieve the goals of the long-term strategic agenda.

Without an intelligent, pragmatic and knowledge-based foreign policy strategy, we will increasingly be slaves to other people’s initiativesand not the protagonists of their own destiny. (OR)