Bio
Juan José Gómez-Camacho is Senior Fellow at SAIS Europe
Ambassador Juan José Gómez-Camacho is a Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute and a Professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) where he teaches and lectures on Global Challenges and on North America. In June 2022 he concluded a career of 34 years as a Mexican diplomat during which he served as Ambassador to Canada (2019–2022); Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations (2016–2019); Ambassador to the European Union as well as to the Kingdom of Belgium and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg (2013–2016); Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the International Organizations based in Geneva, Switzerland (2009–2013); and Ambassador to the Republic of Singapore and concurrently to the Union of Myanmar and the Sultanate of Brunei Darussalam (2006–2009).
He served as Director General for Human Rights and Democracy at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2000–2006). He also served as Alternate Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (1997–2000) and at the Embassy of Mexico to the United Kingdom (1994–1997).
Ambassador Gómez-Camacho has accumulated extensive negotiating experience during the 34 years of his diplomatic career. He has been a lead negotiator on a wide range of issues, from politics, economics, and trade to security, disarmament, humanitarian issues, and other areas of a geopolitical nature, whether on a bilateral, regional, or multilateral basis. In this regard, he was one of the two co-chairs that presided over and led the drafting, negotiation, and adoption of the United Nations Global Compact for a Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, as well as for the creation of the WHO Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Framework after the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. During his tenure as Ambassador of Mexico to the EU and later to Canada, he was directly involved in the renegotiation of the Mexico-EU Free Trade Agreement, and on the North American Free Trade Agreement, now USMCA.
He holds a BA in Law from Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City, and a LLM in International Law from Georgetown University
Courses
- Diplomacy on the Fly
This course, “Diplomacy on the Fly,” is intended for future practitioners from a practitioner’s perspective. It proposes a practice-oriented approach to statecraft and diplomacy — their real-life characteristics, complexities, and contradictions, and the mindset and capabilities necessary to engage them. It intends to prepare students to see reality and international events in all their shades — their politics, unpredictability, and often chaotic nature — and to challenge conventional thinking with talent and imagination as the only way to create and build new and long-lasting avenues and make them work. Foreign policy is not just about policy; it is, fundamentally, about politics. And diplomacy is not a science nor simply a technique, but a deeply human endeavor that demands wisdom, vision, experience, knowledge, and, certainly, a significant amount of skill.
Persuading and negotiating are two of the most critical sine qua non capabilities required. While there are useful techniques, persuasion and negotiation are, in the end, a craft. They are developed over time, with talent, practice, and thorough preparation. The course will devote a significant amount of time and work to steer students into gradually developing these crafts.
