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FAREWELL PARTY
PRESIDENT’S SPEECH - JUNE 20th 2009
His Excellency, the Ambassador of Senegal to the Quirinal and Mrs,
His Excellency, the Ambassador of Senegal to the Holy See and Mrs,
His Excellency the Assistant Director General of FAO in charge of Agriculture
Department and Mrs,
His Excellency the Assistant Director General of FAO in charge of Fisheries
Department and Mrs,
Dear Honorable Guests,
Welcome,
I would like to take this opportunity to thank you for coming to this
evening’s event despite your busy schedule.
As you know the former president of UNWG and our group, Mrs Esther Jacobson,
passed away. Up until the last two years she has been an active member
of the group. On this sad occasion, please join me to observe a moment
of silence in which I would like to include in our prayer relatives of
our members that we have recently lost, namely:
- Our former president Madame Souadou Dia
- Our former president Madame Oulimata Ba
- The mother of our sister and friend Balkissa Djido
- The brother of our sister and friend Ashura Rugalema
- And Sufian Koroma, the son of our sister and friend Ketura
Dear sisters
On behalf of all the members of the UNWG African group and myself, I would
like to take the opportunity of this memorable moment to thank
-Mrs Aissatou Diouf, Mr. Jacques Diouf’s wife and Honorary president
of the UNWG of which our group is part of. I wish to thank her for her
support in all activities of UNWG groups and her unshakable willingness
to rally people together. She is not with us to night due to previous
commitment and apologizes for the absence.
-I would also like to express my gratitude to Mrs Juliana NWANZE who greatly
contributed to our group’s activities. Many thanks also to Mrs Janet
CHANG, a great leader all women should be proud of. She deserves a round
of applauses, for her great sense of family within the United Nations
and the Embassies. Her invaluable advices to me proved to be very useful
and much appreciated. Finally I would like to specially mention all members
of the board and the advisers for their determination and efficiency all
over the year.
Dear sisters and fellow Africans,
With this evening family gathering, we are about to complete our 2008-2009
activities. I would like to express to you my sincere thanks for your
commitment and active participation throughout this year’s events.
At all levels you did your best to put forward ideas such as sharing,
unity and solidarity, and you strongly represented Africa. What is at
stake for us is to unite and take advantage of the opportunities wherever
there are. Let me emphasize once again that the main goal of our group
is to help our sisters in Africa by helping them develop their projects.
I exhort you to pursue the efforts we have accomplished in this direction
within the UNWG as well as the UNWG African group.
With the homecoming in a few months, it is an opportunity for me to thank
you for all your support and confidence in my ability to undertake the
tasks at hand as the president of the African group. During my 10 years
of stay in Italy my participation in the African group has been by far
the best experience. I was able to meet new people and build strong friendship
bonds with people. I can’t find anymore words to say but Good Bye
and I hope that our roads will cross again in the near future.
I won’t end this speech without thanking my husband, Seydou Dembele,
who allowed me to socialize and learn from this prestigious environment.
He is not with us today, being currently on an FAO assignment in Kenya.
Please allow me to use this great occasion to affectionately thank my
sisters and friends who have showed me the road to the African family.
Many of them are overseas. I would like to name: Mrs Ndèye SENE,
Halima METZ, Wafa, Hanim, Margaret KEYA, Nianga BEYE, Françoise
MBETTE, Caroline DIOUF, Maimouna Maiga, Marième SOURANG, Aicha
SALHA, Seynabou Aidara among others.
To all of you who have come to honour today’s event, I wish you
all well deserved summer vacations.
May God protect Africa in peace? May God bless you all.
Thank you and have a great evening.
AISSATOU DEMBELE
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GROUP
MEETING - APRIL 3rd 2009 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
PRESIDENT’S
WELCOMING MESSAGE AND NEW YEAR WISHES
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