CONGO,DEM. REP. OF

Mathey-Boo

Embassy of Democratic Republic of Congo

1100 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite #725, Washington, DC 20036

Tel: +1 202 234-7690 | Email: ambassade@ambardcusa.org

In June 2022, Marie-Hélène Mathey-Boo Lowumba replaced François Nkuna Balumene as the Democratic Republic of Congo’s ambassador to the US. Born in 1943 and descended from Koko Mwato I, she is the 12th Chief of Bokoli (Ngemoboku clan) in the DRC’s MaiNdombe province.

After studying sociology at Pennsylvania’s Beaver College (now Arcadia University), she earned a doctorate in law at the Free University of Brussels in Belgium. This is where she met her late husband, René Mathey. Together, they moved to Brazzaville, Congo, where Mathey-Boo launched her diplomatic career in 1972 as an advisor to Congo’s minister of foreign affairs.

Since then, she’s served in a variety of fields including bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, jurisdiction, economics, resource mobilization, international relations and community development.

Prior to her current appointment, Mathey-Boo was ambassador to Gabon (2003-05). She also served as the DRC’s minister of industry, commerce, weights and measures, directed external relations and governance at the World Health Organization, and was also country director in Nigeria for the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO).

Embassy of Republic of Congo

1720 16th Street NW, Washington, DC 20009

Tel: +1 202 726-5500 | Email: info@ambacongo-us.org

Born in the Congolese city of Pointe Noire in 1959, Serge Mombouli earned a degree in corporate law from the National Conservatory of Arts and Professions in Paris.

An expert in corporate law and business negotiations, Mombouli became a diplomat following a long career in the private sector. He began with the corporate sales division of Air Afrique in Paris and spent many years with AWE Group. From 1995 to 1997, he was vicepresident at Transworld Consortium Corp. in Houston.

Mombouli was named Congo’s chargé d’affaires in Washington in 1997, and ambassador to the US in 2001. On Aug. 31, 2015—upon the death of fellow ambassador Roble Olhaye of Djibouti—he became the dean of the African diplomatic corps in Washington.

Serge Mombouli

For over a decade, Mombouli—a devoted husband and father of six—has worked extensively with the private sector and the US government to strengthen US-Congo diplomatic relations in areas of governance, international development and foreign investment.

Embassy of Costa Rica

2114 S Street NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 499-2980 | Email: embcr-us@rree.go.cr

Chargé d’affaires

Linyi Baidal

Ambassador

Ibrahima Toure

Embassy of Côte d’Ivoire

2424 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 797-0300 | Email: info@ambaciusa.org

Ibrahima Toure took office as Côte d’Ivoire’s new ambassador in December 2021.

Following his 1993 graduation from the University of Abidjan with a bachelor’s degree in English, he studied diplomacy at the National School of Administration, graduating in 1998 and landing a job as research officer in the Africa, Asia and Middle East department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He later earned a post-graduate degree in political economy at London’s University of Westminster.

In 2000, he became first secretary at the Ivorian mission in Britain; six years later he was promoted to counselor on economic affairs. In 2016, Toure was named as advisor to Côte d’Ivoire’s permanent representative to the UN in New York. He then served as a political coordinator to the UN Security Council (2018-19) and in 2019, was appointed ambassador and deputy permanent representative of his country to the UN.

That same year, he also visited Mali and Burkina Faso; more recently, he helped draft and present the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

Embassy of Croatia

2343 Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20008

Tel: +1 202 588-5899 | Email: washington@mvep.hr

Pjer Šimunović, born in the port city of Split in 1962, has been Croatia’s ambassador to the US since September 2017.

Before that, he was a director at the National Security Council as well as Croatian ambassador to Israel, defense state secretary in charge of defense policy, national coordinator for NATO and assistant foreign minister. Šimunović was also a political counselor at the Croatian Embassy in Paris, and deputy director of the analytical department of the Foreign Ministry.

During his earlier career in journalism before becoming a diplomat, he worked with the BBC World Service in London, the Paris-based magazine Europ and the Zagreb daily Večernji list, covering the collapse of communism, and crisis and war in the former Yugoslavia, as well as European and transatlantic affairs.

A regular speaker on security issues, Šimunović has written many articles dealing with the arms trade and defense industry, post-communist national security, NATO enlargement, international peacekeeping and counterterrorism. He has a master’s degree from the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, and a bachelor’s in comparative literature and Italian from the University of Zagreb.

ALBERTO SANTOS-DUMONT

Bust - Brazilian Aeronautical

One of the most significant names in the world of aviation, Alberto Santos-Dumont (18731932) was a Brazilian aviator and inventor who made the first flight with his No. 14-bis in Paris.

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (1850 - 1937) was a politician, sociologist and philosopher who fought for Czech independence. He helped to create a functioning democratic state and eventually became the first president of Czechoslovakia.

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