Foreign Policy: new ambassadors accredited from Korea, Portugal, Moldova and Rwanda

De gauche à droite : S.E. M. François NKULIKIYIMFURA, Ambassadeur Extraordinaire et Plénipotentiaire du Rwanda ; S.E. Mme Corina CÃLUGÃRU, Ambassadeur Extraordinaire et Plénipotentiaire de Moldova ; Marie-Catherine CARUSO-RAVERA, Directeur des Relations Diplomatiques et Consulaires ; S.E. M. Jai Chul CHOI, Ambassadeur Extraordinaire et Plénipotentiaire de Corée et S.E. M. José Augusto DE JESUS DUARTE, Ambassadeur Extraordinaire et Plénipotentiaire du Portugal. © Manuel Vitali – Direction de la Communication

On Tuesday, 7 November, Ms Marie-Catherine Caruso-Ravera, Director of Diplomatic and Consular Relations, hosted a luncheon at the Hôtel Hermitage on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, for the following diplomats: H.E. Mr Jai Chul Choi, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Korea; H.E. Mr José Augusto de Jesus Duarte, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Portugal; H.E. Mrs Corina Cãlugãru, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Moldova and H.E. Mr François Nkulikiyimfura, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Rwanda. They each presented their Letters of Credence to H.S.H., the Sovereign Prince on the morning of the luncheon.

H.E. Jai Chul Choi joined the Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1981. He holds a bachelor's degree in French language and literature from Seoul National University and a diploma in diplomatic studies from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. After holding various positions in the Korean Embassies in France, Kenya and the Philippines, he became Director of the Environmental Cooperation Division of the International Economic Affairs Bureau in 1999, and Director General of the Bureau in 2007. Subsequently, he held the successive posts of Ministerial Ambassador for Climate Change, then Ambassador to Morocco and Denmark before his appointment to France in 2022.

H.E. José Augusto De Jesus Duarte began his career at the Directorate-General for European Affairs of the Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1990. A graduate in International Relations from the Institute of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Lisbon, he was Director of the Private Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs before being appointed Director for Sub-Saharan Africa at the Directorate-General for Foreign Policy in 2009.  After holding various positions at the Portuguese Embassies in the USA and Spain and the Portuguese Permanent Representation to the European Union, he was appointed Portuguese Ambassador to Mozambique from 2013 to 2016. He was appointed Adviser to the President of the Portuguese Republic in 2016, Ambassador to China from 2017 to 2022 and then Ambassador of Portugal to France in 2022.

H.E. Corina Cãlugãru holds a master's degree in law and a bachelor's degree in economics, she began her career as a diplomat in 2004.  In 2010, she became Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Moldova to the United Nations Office in Geneva, and in 2012 Director of the Directorate for Global Affairs and Human Rights, before being appointed Ambassador to the Council of Europe in 2015. Since 2022, she has been Ambassador of the Republic of Moldova to France, Permanent Delegate of the Republic of Moldova to UNESCO and Personal Representative of the President to the Permanent Council of La Francophonie (OIF).

H.E. Mr François Nkulikiyimfura holds a master’s degree in Industrial Economics from the University of Paris XIII and has more than 25 years of experience, including 18 years in development economics and the management of development finance programmes, acquired while working at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning of Rwanda and at the African Development Bank. H.E. Mr François Nkulikiyimfura is currently the Ambassador of the Republic of Rwanda to France, Spain, Italy, Monaco and Portugal. He is also a Permanent Delegate to UNESCO, the OIF, the OECD, the FAO, IFAD and the WFP.