SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS RAYMOND CHR+TIEN OF CANADA AS SPECIAL ENVOY TO GREAT LAKES REGION

30 October 1996

Press Release
SG/A/624/Rev.1*
BIO/3048/Rev.1*

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS RAYMOND CHRÉTIEN OF CANADA AS SPECIAL ENVOY TO GREAT LAKES REGION

19961030 Biographical Note Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali has appointed Raymond Chrétien, Canada's Ambassador to the United States, as Special Envoy to the Great Lakes region of Africa. He will travel to the region in the first days of November and remain there for about a month. Mr. Chrétien has been Canada's Ambassador to the United States since January 1994. Prior to that, he served as Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, from 1991 to 1994. Mr. Chrétien began his career in 1966, when he joined the Legal Affairs Bureau in Canada's Department of External Affairs -- now the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Over the next 12 years, he had assignments in Ottawa with the Privy Council Office, the Treasury Board and the Canadian International Development Agency. Outside Canada, he served at Canada's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, and at Canada's embassies in Beirut and Paris. In 1978, Mr. Chrétien was named Canada's Ambassador to Zaire, with joint accreditation to Rwanda, Burundi and the Congo. He returned to Ottawa in 1981, where he was Policy Director for Industry, Investments and Competition (1981-1982), Assistant Under-Secretary for Manufacturing, Technology and Transportation (1982-1983), and Inspector General (1983-1985), all in the Department of External Affairs. In 1985, Mr. Chrétien was appointed Canada's Ambassador to Mexico. During his service there, he was awarded the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest award the Mexican Government has presented to a Canadian. Upon completion of his assignment in Mexico, he was named Associate Under-Secretary for External Affairs, the second highest office in the Department. Mr. Chrétien attended university at the Séminaire de Joliette, where he earned his B.A. degree, and at Laval University, where he earned his LL.L degree. In 1966, he was admitted to the Quebec Bar. Born on 20 May 1942 in Shawinigan, Quebec, Mr. Chrétien is married and has two children. (For additional information on his current appointment, see Press Release SG/SM/6101, of 30 October.)

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__________ * Revised to correct information on the second paragraph.