Natalia Royo was born in Panama on December 24th, 1967.

 

She studied journalism at the New York University (NYU) in the United States and has a master’s degree on International Relations from the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University, a master’s degree in Political Communications and a second master’s degree on International Affairs from Fundacion Ortega y Gasset/Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain.

 

Prior to her current post, Ambassador Royo held several positions in the Panamanian foreign service. She was Counsellor at the Mission of Panama to the United Nations, where she oversaw the economic section and led the negotiations of the Development Agenda and the action programmes of the IV World Conference on Women, the World Summit for Social Development and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

 

Natalia Royo was also the coordinator for the Rio Group, formed by 14 Latin American countries and was in charge of conciliating the group’s positions before the United Nations and presenting them to the various commissions.

 

Ambassador Royo continued her diplomatic career at the Mission of Panama to the Organisation of American States (OAS) during the XXVI General Assembly hosted by Panama in June 1996.

 

She also worked with the Permanent Mission of Panama to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and at the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) in the capacity of counsellor for planning cooperation.

 

During her 8 years at SEGIB, she managed the evaluations of the multilateral cooperation programmes between Latin American governments that were approved at the Ibero-American Summits of Heads of State and Government, and was in charge of disaster prevention and management in conjunction with the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), decentralisation, municipalities and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME).

 

Ambassador Royo was also the Communications Director at the CODESPA Foundation on development in Latin America.

 

Most recently, Natalia Royo was the Minister Counsellor at the Embassy of Panama in Spain, overseeing political and economic affairs.

 

Natalia Royo has published articles on Panama in the Fundacion Real Instituto Elcano and a study on the Panama Canal and other alternate routes published in Acta Geographica No. 21 of Paris, France.

 

Ambassador Natalia Royo is married, with two children.