APA-Cotonou (Benin) The post of Minister of Foreign Affairs in Benin had been vacant since Aurelien Agbenonci’s dismissal on April 23, 2023.
Financier Olushegun Adjadi Bakari is Benin’s new Minister of Foreign Affairs. The announcement was made Tuesday evening on national television by permanent secretary Edouard Ouin-Ouro.
The new head of diplomacy is not a newcomer.
He joined Patrice Talon’s team on April 26, 2023 as Minister Advisor to the President on Investments.
He has also worked alongside Togolese President Faure Gnassingbe as Minister of Economic Affairs.
Prior to his appointment to the Benin government, Olushegun Adjadi Bakari went into business.
With partners, he set up a company manufacturing electric motorcycles, which are sold by the
thousands in the major cities of Benin and Togo.
Benin’s new dplomatic chief spent a large part of his career with the French banking group Societe Generale.
This appointment puts an end to the vacuum that has existed at the head of Benin’s Minister of Foreign Affairs since the dismissal of Aurelien Agbenonci on May 23, 2023.
No official announcement has been made, but the former minister himself confirmed the news to the press.
The government has given no explanation for this decision.
Mr. Agbenonci was presented as one of the president’s most loyal officials.
He had been in government since April 2016, when Patrice Talon came to power.
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