Haiti – Politic : Michaëlle Jean takes office at the head of the OIF

Monday, Michaëlle Jean, the new Secretary General of the Francophonie, officially took office during a short ceremony with the outgoing Secretary General Abdou Diouf, at the headquarters of the International Organization of the Francophonie (OIF). In a brief interview, the new Secretary General and President Diouf exchanged views on the main directions of the organization and discussed the implementation of the Declaration of the Summit of Dakar.

Designated on 30 November by the Heads of State and Government of the OIF, at the 15th Francophonie Summit in Dakar (Senegal), Michaëlle Jean, has three major missions under the Charter of the Francophonie. In addition to being political spokesman and official representative of the organization at international level, she implements the political and diplomatic action of the Francophonie. She also ensures the implementation of the Francophone multilateral cooperation in collaboration with the four operators of the Francophonie (Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, TV5 Monde, International Association of Francophone Mayors and Senghor University of Alexandria).

Learn more about Michaëlle Jean :
Governor General and Commander in Chief of Canada from 2005 to 2010, Michaëlle Jean has completed last month a term of more than 4 years as a UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti. Great Witness of La Francophonie at Olympic and Paralympic Games London 2012, since 2011 she is also Chancellor of the University of Ottawa. Born September 6, 1957 in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the new Secretary-General has also made a career for over 18 years to the Canadian public broadcaster, the CBC. Michaëlle Jean is the third person to hold the post of Secretary General of the Francophonie (4 year term). She succeeds Abdou Diouf (2003 to 2014), and Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1998 to 2002).