H.E. Mr. Elyes Ghariani, Ambassador of Tunisia, H.E. Mr. Agustín Vásquez Gómez, Ambassador of El Salvador, H.E. Ms. María Teresa de Jesús Infante Caffi, Ambassador of Chile, Ambassador Delvalle, H.E. Ms. Laura Dupuys, Ambassador of Uruguay, H.E. Mr. Bruce Koloane, Ambassador of South Africa, H.E. Ms. Soraya Alvarez, Ambassador of Cuba, H.E. Ms. Regina Maria Cordeiro Dunlop, Ambassador of Brazil and H.E. Mr. Fernando Bucheli Vargas, Ambassador of Ecuador.
By Roy Lie Atjam.
The international diplomatic community in the Netherlands bade farewell to H.E. Ambassador Willys Delvalle. To commemorate this occasion, Diplomat magazine hosted a Ceremony of Merit for the Ambassador Delvalle.
Willys Delvalle has been serving as Ambassador in the Netherlands since 2015. The ceremony of merit and reception took place in The Hague on 31st May 2019. Many of the Ambassador’s colleagues as well as a delegation of ASA members (Ambassador Spouses Association) attended the ceremony to celebrate with Ambassador Delvalle and his wife Tatiana.
Speakers at the event were H.E. Mr. Bruce Kolane, Ambassador of South Africa, Dato Linda Zin, member of ASA and the spouse of the Malaysian Ambassador and H.E. Mr. Agustín Vásquez Gómez, Ambassador of El Salvador delivered the following farewell message.
“With sincere conviction, I can say today that we are honoring not only a great Ambassador, worthy representative of his country, but also a couple with a great human quality, who in different ways and in different areas, have left an unforgettable mark in all of us.
From Willys, as Ambassador I can mention that during his tenure (of course not the one from the OPCW), with high merit and effort, along with the great team of his Embassy (Armonía, Milciades, Paulina and Chris), he managed to position Panama on one of the highest pedestals within the Foreign Service of Panama.
In his bilateral duties, Willys achieved the signing of a series of cooperation agreements for the promotion of exports, to stimulate and increase the business of large-scale Cruises, through the exchange of information and training among others, as well as one of the achievement that normally an Ambassador desires, which was the presidential visit to the Netherlands in January 2018 of H.E. Juan Carlos Varela, adding as accomplishments, the signing in that framework of a series of agreements in logistics, agriculture, livestock and agro logistics.
No less important, has been the footprint of Willys at the multilateral level, who with outstanding skills, knew how to serve as a member of the Executive Council of the OPCW on two occasions, as well as Vice Chair of the 23rd Conference of the States Parties and the conduction of a facilitation on the permanent premises of the International Criminal Court… not to mention, the memorable coordination of GRULAC in 2017, which exposed his solid temper and patience, as well as his steel nerves, characteristics of a well prepared and experienced diplomat.
Willys is also leaving a big gap (almost the Panama Canal size) among the diplomatic and Dutch community of golf players… I’m sure they will miss a lot Willys and Tatiana, who have been faithful practitioners of that discipline over the past few years.
The gentleness, the gift of people, the humankind and the friendly and warm treatment are some of the many virtues that define Willys, which undoubtedly eased the development of his diplomatic work, as well as his excellent interpersonal relations, not only with the members of the diplomatic community, but also with Dutch society.
Dear Willys and Tatiana, on behalf of your friends here reunited, we are happy for the opportunity we have had in knowing you. At the same time, we share the joy that, after the wonderful experience of life you have had in the Netherlands and beyond, you are going back to your beloved Panama, to take up the work that I know not only inspires the life of Willys, around the Panama Canal, but also to engage in a series of activities that will allow, specially Tatiana, to share quality time with your daughters in a number of achievements and new endeavors in their academic and future family life.
We will always remember you with joy and gratitude and as a small gift of it, I want to finish my words with a verse from a well-known song in Latin America which many years ago, a group of Argentine singers known as the Chalchaleros, dedicated to the Panamanian people, characterized always by their joy and warmth…
The song is called El tambor de la alegría “The drum of joy” and it says something like that,
“Panameña panameña,
panameña vida mía,
yo quiero que tú me lleves
al tambor de la alegría!”
Ambassador Agustín Vásquez Gómez, showcased a bit of his talents and provided some entertainment by means of singing El tambor de la alegría, evoking lots of laughter from those in attendance.The Ambassador was then presented a Certificate of Merit as well as an award. His wife Tatiana, was presented with gorgeous floral bouquet.
Dear Willys and Tatiana, may success be with you, always…Wishing you good luck!
