Foreign Policy: new ambassadors accredited from Gabon, Jordan, Paraguay, and Tunisia

De gauche à droite : S.E. Mme Leena AL-HADID, Ambassadeur Extraordinaire et Plénipotentiaire du Royaume Hachémite de Jordanie ; S.E. M. Dhia KHALED, Ambassadeur Extraordinaire et Plénipotentiaire de la République tunisienne ; Mme Isabelle BERRO-AMADEI, Conseiller de Gouvernement-Ministre des Relations Extérieures et de la Coopération ; S.E. Mme Cynthia FILARTIGA-LACROIX, Ambassadeur Extraordinaire et Plénipotentiaire de la République du Paraguay et S.E. Mme Marie-Edith TASSYLA-YE-DOUMBENENY, Ambassadeur Extraordinaire et Plénipotentiaire de la République gabonaise. © Stéphane Danna – Direction de la Communication

On Tuesday 1 April, Ms Isabelle Berro-Amadei, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, hosted a luncheon at the Hotel Hermitage for H.E. Ms Marie-Edith Tassyla-Ye-Doumbeneny, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Gabonese Republic; H.E. Ms Leena Al-Hadid, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; H.E. Ms Cynthia Filartiga-Lacroix, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Paraguay; and H.E. Mr Dhia Khaled, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Tunisia.

Throughout the morning, each ambassador presented their Letters of Credence to H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince.

After gaining a Master of Arts in Spanish Civilisation (University of Paris XIII-Villetaneuse) and a Postgraduate Diploma in Political Science (School of Advanced Political Studies, Paris), H.E. Ms Marie-Edith Tassyla-Ye-Doumbeneny joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Gabon in the year 2000 as a Research Officer at the General Secretariat of the National Commission of the Francophonie. After a period abroad as Cultural Advisor at the Embassy of Gabon in Belgium from 2005 to 2008, she was appointed Ambassador and Director of Protocol in July 2008, then Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for multilateral issues in 2010, before taking on the role of Ambassador in Ethiopia. In July 2015, she was appointed Ambassador of Gabon to Kenya and Tanzania and Permanent Representative to the African Union, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and the United Nations Environment Programme. From 2017 to 2019, she served as Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Gabon before being appointed Ambassador to France on 22 January 2024.

After graduating in general law from the University of Jordan, H.E. Ms Leena Al-Hadid joined the Jordanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1995, where she held various positions. She served as Diplomatic Officer for Human Rights at the Jordanian Mission to the United Nations in Geneva from 2004 to 2006 before being appointed Deputy Director of the Human Rights and Humanitarian Security Department until 2009, when she was promoted to Deputy Consul General at the General Consulate of Jordan in Dubai from 2009 to 2014, before taking on the role as Director of the International Relations and Organisations Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates. From 2018 to 2022, she served as Jordan's Ambassador to Austria and non-resident Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia.

H.E. Ms Cynthia Filartiga-Lacroix, who holds a degree in French, is a graduate of the Diplomatic and Consular Academy of Paraguay. She also has a degree in Public Administration from the Ecole Nationale d'Administration (ENA) and a master's degree in National Strategic Planning from the Instituto de Altos Estudios Estratégicos (IEAE) in Paraguay. In addition to her posts as Director for Europe (1998-1999), the Americas (2004-2009), International Cooperation (2016-2021) and Director General for Bilateral Policy (2022) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay, she has also gained experience abroad, all on the South American continent: First Secretary at the Paraguayan Embassy in Colombia (2000-2004), Counsellor at the Paraguayan Embassy in Argentina (2009-2013) and Minister at the Paraguayan Embassy in Brazil (2013-2015).

H.E. Mr Dhia Khaled gained a master's degree in Private Law from the Faculty of Law at the University of Tunisia (Tunis 1) and a DEA postgraduate diploma in Legal Sciences before starting his career as a Foreign Affairs Advisor in 1997. He served as Deputy Head of Mission at the Tunisian Embassy in New Delhi (India) from 2001 to 2005 before moving on to the role of  Economic Advisor and Chargé d'Affaires at the Tunisian Embassy in Madrid (Spain) from 2009 to 2014 before becoming the Tunisian Ambassador to China and non-resident Ambassador to Vietnam, Cambodia, North Korea, Laos and Mongolia from 2016 to 2021. He was appointed Tunisian Ambassador to France, Permanent Delegate to UNESCO and Permanent Representative to the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF) in January 2024.