He studied law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from Princeton University. He has been a visiting scholar at the Center for Latin American Studies at Princeton University and at the Kellogg Institute for International Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

He served as Minister of Foreign Affairs during the administration of President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle, Permanent Representative of Chile to the United Nations, and Ambassador of Chile to Spain, Argentina, and the United States.

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he also served as Director of International Economic Relations between 1996 and 2000, a period during which negotiations began that led to the Chile–United States Free Trade Agreement.

He also led the Chile-Image Project and the Fundación Imagen de Chile.