Peru’s former Finance minister, Luis Valdivieso, has been appointed ambassador to Washington, just a week after he resigned from the cabinet to accept President Alan Garcia’s offer of a high-level government position abroad.
“It’s a political decision,” said an anonymous government source in comments to daily Peru21. “He is not a career diplomat. He lived in Washington, was a minister, government employee and worked for the International Monetary Fund. He has good relations with Washington’s financial and economic sectors, and with international organizations.”
Valdivieso, 58, a veteran International Monetary Fund economist and most recently advisor in the Fund’s Asia & Pacific Department, took over Peru’s finance ministry from Luis Carranza in July. Carranza, 42, has now returned to head the finance portfolio. In 1990-1992, Valdivieseo helped plan Peru’s economic stabilization program when former President Alberto Fujimori wrestled with the hyperinflation left by the current President in his first term, and most recently concluded free trade talks with China.
In the Washington post, Valdivieso succeeds Felipe Ortiz de Zevallos, who formally resigned on Jan. 21.
