Rogelio Pfirter (born 25 August 1948) is an

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

diplomat who served as Argentina's ambassador to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and to the

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of Rome ...

. He was the Director General of the

Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is an intergovernmental organisation and the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), which entered into force on 29 April 1997. The OPCW, with its 193 member ...

(OPCW) from 2002 to 2010.

Early and personal life

Pfirter was born in Santa Fe,

Santa Fe Province The Province of Santa Fe ( es, Provincia de Santa Fe, ) is a Provinces of Argentina, province of Argentina, located in the center-east of the country. Neighboring provinces are from the north clockwise Chaco Province, Chaco (divided by the 28th ...

, on 25 August 1948. He graduated as a lawyer from the Universidad Nacional del Litoral. He is married to Isabel Serantes Braun.

Professional career

During his diplomatic career, Pfirter held various positions at the

Argentine Foreign Ministry The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship ( es, Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, Comercio Internacional y Culto; MRECIC), informally referred to as the Chancellery ( es, Cancillería), is the Argentine government minis ...

. In 1992 he was promoted to the rank of Ambassador and in the same year he became the Director of the Argentine-Brazilian Agency for Accounting and Control of Nuclear Materials (ABACC) and the Director of the Argentine Space Agency (CONAE). He was subsequently appointed Undersecretary for Foreign Policy at the Argentine Foreign Ministry. From 1995 to 2000, during the presidency of

Carlos Menem Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 1989 to 1999. Ideologically, he identified as a Peronist and supported economically liberal policies. H ...

, Pfirter was Argentina's ambassador to the

. In 2002, Pfirter was unanimously elected the Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague, The Netherlands. He was elected for a second term in 2006. Pfirter’s tenure was praised as a time of consolidation and strengthening of the OPCW after the controversial departure of his predecessor

José Bustani José Maurício de Figueiredo Bustani (born June 5, 1945) is a Brazilian diplomat who was the first director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons until he was ousted after pressure from the US government in April 2 ...

. Pfirter gathered support for chemical weapons destruction and as a manager he succeeded in administering the Secretariat with zero nominal growth (ZNG) for four years in a row. After retiring in 2010, he became a member of the Global Council on Weapons of Mass Destruction at the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

. From 2015 to 2019, Pfirter was Argentina's ambassador to the

. Pfirter was appointed by President

Mauricio Macri Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previo ...

to succeed Eduardo Valdés, upon

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

's suggestion. During Pfirter's ambassadorship, Macri and Pope Francis met on two occasions. Pfirter stepped down upon the election of

Alberto Fernández Alberto Ángel Fernández (; born 2 April 1959) is an Argentine politician, lawyer and professor, serving as president of Argentina since 2019. Born in Buenos Aires, Fernández attended the University of Buenos Aires, where he earned his law ...

as president in 2019; he was succeeded by

María Fernanda Silva María Fernanda Silva (born 20 December 1965) is an Argentine career diplomat, and the current ambassador of Argentina to the Holy See. She is the first woman to hold the ambassadorship to the Holy See, as well as the first Afro-Argentine to lea ...

Awards

Pfirter has received a number of international awards including Grand Cross of the Orden of Merit from

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

as well as

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

; Officier of the Legion of Honour from France and Commandeur of the

Order of Orange-Nassau The Order of Orange-Nassau ( nl, Orde van Oranje-Nassau, links=no) is a civil and military Dutch order of chivalry founded on 4 April 1892 by the queen regent, Emma of the Netherlands. The order is a chivalric order open to "everyone who has ...

from the Netherlands.

References

{{authority control Pfirter, Rogelio 1948 births People from Santa Fe, Argentina Directors-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Officiers of the Légion d'honneur Commanders of the Order of Orange-Nassau Ambassadors of Argentina to the Holy See Ambassadors of Argentina to the United Kingdom