Omar Ignacio Paganini Herrera (born 2 June 1962) is an

Uruguayan Uruguayans () are people identified with the country of Uruguay, through citizenship or descent. Uruguay is home to people of different ethnic origins. As a result, many Uruguayans do not equate their nationality with ethnicity, but with citizen ...

electrical engineer, academic and politician of the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

, serving as Minister of Foreign Relations from 6 November 2023 to 1 March 2025 under president

Luis Lacalle Pou Luis Alberto Aparicio Alejandro Lacalle Pou (, ; born 11 August 1973), is a Uruguayan politician and lawyer, who served as the 42nd president of Uruguay from 2020 to 2025. The son of former president Luis Alberto Lacalle, Lacalle Pou attended ...

. Previously, he served as Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining from March 2020 to November 2023. Graduated from the

University of the Republic The University of the Republic (, sometimes ''UdelaR'') is a public research university in Montevideo, Uruguay. It is the country's oldest and largest university, as well as one of the largest public universities in South America in terms of en ...

with a degree in Electrical Engineering, Paganini obtained a

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA) is a professional degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration; elective courses may allow further study in a particular ...

from the Catholic University of Uruguay. He also trained in Entrepreneurship at

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

and the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

, and in Negotiation by the Global PON program at

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Career

In 1990 he founded an engineering and automation services company for the industry and in 1995 he settled in the department of Paysandú to take over as director of the company Paylana S.A. From 2001 to 2003, back in Montevideo, he joined

Antel The Administración Nacional de Telecomunicaciones (ANTEL, literally "National Administration of Telecommunications") is Uruguay's government-owned telecommunications company, founded in 1974 as a separate legal entity after spinning off the tel ...

's ITC consultancy. In 2003, he was appointed dean of the Faculty of Engineering of the Catholic University of Uruguay (UCU), a position he held until 2012. Later, he served as vice-rector for Economic Management and Development and in 2018 he became head of the UCU Business School. In addition, he directed the Observatory of Energy and Sustainable Development of that university, through which he has made publications and presentations in the country and in foreign universities, mainly, on the change of the energy matrix.

Minister of Industry

Paganini was announced as Minister of Industry, Energy and Mining on December 16, 2019 by then-President-elect

. He took office on March 1, 2020, stating that his portfolio should be "a channel for Uruguay to take advantage of its opportunities and face its challenges." He also pointed out that the country's competitiveness is the main challenge of his management. He was succeeded by Elisa Facio.

Minister of Foreign Relations

On November 4, 2023, in the midst of a cabinet reshuffle, President

announced that Paganini would succeed

Francisco Bustillo Francisco Carlos Bustillo Bonasso (born April 1, 1960) is a Uruguayan diplomat who served as Minister of Foreign Relations of Uruguay from July 6, 2020 to November 1, 2023. Bustillo entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay by merit co ...

as foreign minister.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Paganini Herrera, Omar Ignacio University of the Republic (Uruguay) alumni Catholic University of Uruguay alumni Academic staff of the Catholic University of Uruguay National Party (Uruguay) politicians Ministers of industries, energy and mining of Uruguay 1962 births Living people Uruguayan people of Italian descent