"The 4th day of the United Nations High-Level Week begins with a victory for Portugal. At the meeting of the Ibero-American Foreign Ministers, Ambassador José Frederico Ludovice was elected Deputy Secretary of the Ibero-American General Secretariat [SEGIB]", wrote the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE) on its official account on the social network X.

"The MNE congratulates our candidate and the first Portuguese to occupy this position", added the ministry headed by Paulo Rangel.

José Frederico Ludovice began his diplomatic career in 1989 and has been ambassador in Buenos Aires (Argentina) since 2020.

Ludovice returns to an organisation he is already familiar with: between 2012 and 2014 he was chief of staff to the deputy secretary-general and director of planning at SEGIB in Madrid.

The Ibero-American region comprises a total of 22 countries, the vast majority from Latin America, and Portugal, Spain and Andorra, in Europe.