Biographical Note

new permanent Observer of African Union presents appointment letter

(Based on information received from the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

Lila Hanitra Ratsifandrihamanana of Madagascar today presented her letter of appointment to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan as the new Permanent Observer of the African Union to the United Nations.

Prior to her appointment, she was stationed in Dakar from August 2002 until the present as Madagascar’s Ambassador to Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Morocco, Cape Verde and Côte d’Ivoire.  Between 1998 and 2002, she was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs after serving a year as Minister for Scientific Research.

As Foreign Minister, she took part in statutory meetings of the United Nations and its organs, of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, the Non-Aligned Movement and the “Group of 77” developing countries and China.  She was also active in regional organizations like the Indian Ocean Rim Association for Regional Cooperation, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the Indian Ocean Commission, which she chaired in 2000.

Ms. Ratsifandrihamanana attended the Saint Petersburg Mining School in the former Soviet Union from 1979 to 1985, earning degrees in mining engineering, geophysics and geology.  Her additional training included studies in remote sensing (SITEL) in Toulouse, France, in 1991; applied geology in Madagascar in 1993; and teaching at the University of Liège, Belgium, in 1994.

Born on 19 November 1959, she is married and has three adult children.

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For information media • not an official record