NEW PERMANENT OBSERVER OF AFRICAN UNION PRESENTS LETTER OF NOMINATION TO DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA

Jean-Marie Ehouzou, the new Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his letter of nomination to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Ehouzou had been serving as the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration, la Francophonie and Beninese Abroad of Benin from 2008 to 2011. He was Benin’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 2006 to 2008. He was Benin’s Ambassador to Ethiopia from 2003 to 2006, concurrently accredited as Ambassador to Kenya, Sudan and Djibouti and as Permanent Representative to the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

A career diplomat, Mr. Ehouzou joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Benin in 1979. He has served in Algeria as First Counselor from 1987 to 1993 and in Germany from 1995 to 1996 as Minister Counselor. He has held various posts at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Cotounou, including as Chief of the Western Europe Office from 1979 to 1987;
Acting Deputy Director of the Department of Communities in 1996; and Director for the International Organizations Office from 2000 to 2003. He was Director for the coordination of external resources at the Ministry of Planning, Economic Restructuring and the Promotion of Employment from 1996 to 2000.

Mr. Ehouzou has a Masters in History from the National University of Benin (1978), another degree from the University of Benin’s Administrative and Advanced Training Centre (1979), and a degree in international political relations from the International Institute of Public Administration in Paris (1985). He was born in September 1950.


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CR12/020E