Rubens Ricupero

Rubens Ricupero combined diplomacy with economic policy. Trained in law at the University of São Paulo, he taught international relations and diplomatic history before holding senior positions in the presidential administration. As Brazil’s representative in Geneva from 1987 to 1991, he negotiated in the Uruguay Round and chaired successive GATT bodies concerned with development and the trading system. ¹

Ricupero served as ambassador in Washington from 1991 to 1993 and chaired the finance negotiating group at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. He subsequently became minister for the environment and the Amazon, then finance minister in 1994, when he supervised preparations for and the launch of the real currency. He served as secretary-general of UNCTAD from 1995 to 2004. ¹