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Louise Fréchette: Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations

Ms. Louise Fréchette is the first Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations. She assumed her duties on 2 March 1998 after having been appointed to the post by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

The General Assembly established the post of Deputy Secretary-General at the end of 1997 as part of the UN's reform strategy. The position was created to help manage Secretariat operations and to ensure a coherence of activities and programmes. The post was also designed to elevate the UN's profile and leadership on economic and social issues. The Deputy Secretary-General assists the Secretary-General with all of his duties and sometimes represents the UN in his stead at conferences or official functions.

Ms. Fréchette chairs the Steering Committee on Reform and Management Policy and the Advisory Board of the UN Fund for International Partnerships, which handles relations with the foundation set up by Mr. Ted Turner in support of the UN.

Before joining the UN, Ms. Fréchette, a native of Canada, was her country's Deputy Minister of National Defense, 1995 to 1998. Prior to that, she was Associate Deputy Minister in the Canadian Department of Finance. She was Permanent Representative of Canada to the UN from 1992 to 1995.

Ms. Fréchette began her career in Canada's Department of External Affairs in 1971. She was a member of her country's delegation to the General Assembly in 1972. She then served as Second Secretary at the Canadian Embassy in Athens until 1975. For the next ten years, Ms. Fréchette held a variety of posts in her country's offices for external and UN affairs. She received her first ambassadorship in 1985 when she was appointed Canada's ambassador to Argentina with concurrent accreditation to Uruguay and Paraguay.

In October 1988, Ms. Fréchette was named Assistant Deputy Minister for Latin America and the Caribbean in the Department of International Affairs and International Trade. She directed a review of Canada's relations with the region, which led to Canada's entry into the Organization of American States (OAS). In January 1991 she became Assistant Deputy Minister for Economic Policy and Trade Competitiveness.

Ms. Fréchette received a Bachelor of Arts from College Basile Moreau. She earned a degree in history from the University of Montreal in 1970 and a post-graduate diploma in economic studies at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, in 1978. She has received honorary doctorate degrees from Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Kyung Hee University in Seoul, University of Ottawa, University of Toronto and Laval University in Quebec. In 1998, she was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada.

Ms. Fréchette, who speaks French, English and Spanish, was born in Montreal on 16 July 1946.