Juan Manuel Velasco Le\u00f3n is a Spanish national and a seasoned public servant with extensive experience in agriculture, fisheries, food policy, and international cooperation. Born on 3rd September 1960, he currently serves as Counsellor of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at the Embassy of Spain in New Delhi, a role he has held since October 2024, with additional accreditation in Seychelles, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Mauritius.<\/p>\n
Prior to this, he worked with the European Commission in Brussels for nearly a decade, serving as Programme Manager for Broadband in the Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development from 2020 to 2024. Between 2015 and 2020, he was a Policy Officer in the Directorate-General for International Partnerships, focusing on rural development, food security, and nutrition. His earlier roles include serving as Attach\u00e9 of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food at the Permanent Representation of Spain to the European Union (2008\u20132015), and as Deputy Director General for Markets and Trade of Fisheries Products at Spain\u2019s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Environment (2006\u20132008).<\/p>\n
From 2000 to 2006, he was Counsellor of Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Environment at the Spanish Embassy in London, also accredited to the Republic of Ireland. He has also held advisory and senior administrative roles within the European Commission and the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, including serving in the Cabinet of the Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for External Relations and Trade, both as a Principal Administrator and as a Seconded National Expert between 1993 and 1999. Earlier in his career, he worked as Counsellor to the Secretary General of Agriculture in Madrid.<\/p>\n
Juan Manuel Velasco Le\u00f3n holds a Master\u2019s degree in Agricultural Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (1984), along with diplomas in European Studies from the Diplomatic School of Spain and in International Trade from the Ministry of Economy and Trade at the Spanish Embassy in Paris. He became a civil servant in the National Body of Agricultural Engineers in 1987 and was awarded a scholarship by the U.S. Department of State in 1989. He is fluent in Spanish, English, and French, with working knowledge of Italian and basic proficiency in Portuguese.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3122,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":""},"team_designation":[],"team_department":[8],"class_list":["post-3130","team","type-team","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","team_department-speakers-2026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/gsa\/agri-summit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team\/3130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/gsa\/agri-summit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/gsa\/agri-summit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/team"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/gsa\/agri-summit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/gsa\/agri-summit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3122"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/gsa\/agri-summit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"team_designation","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/gsa\/agri-summit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team_designation?post=3130"},{"taxonomy":"team_department","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/et-edge.com\/conferences\/gsa\/agri-summit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/team_department?post=3130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}