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Forum of Federations announces new directorsJune 25, 2007 - The Forum of Federations announced today the appointment of Samuel Assefa, General John de Chastelain, Amitabha Pande and Johanne Poirier to its board of directors. The Forum of Federations is an international non-governmental organization that works on issues of federal governance around the world. It is supported by nine federal countries. The announcement was made by Dr. Arnold Koller, Chair of the Forum of Federations and past-President of Switzerland. The Forum's board includes directors from its partner countries, as well as a youth director. Canada has an additional three directors at large. Samuel Assefa (Ethiopia), a well-known academic and public figure in Ethiopia, is the Ethiopian ambassador to the United States. He holds a PhD from Princeton University, where he specialized in political philosophy and international relations. Assefa taught political theory and philosophy at Princeton, Williams College and Rutgers University in the US for ten years, before returning to Ethiopia in 1994. He worked for the United Nations Development Programme, and taught at Addis Ababa University until 2003 when he assumed the role of Vice-President. He has been active with a variety of institutions including the InterAfrica Group, the Center for Peace, Democracy and Human Rights, the African Initiative for a Democratic World Order, the Heinrich Bàµll Foundation, and the Bonn International Centre for Conversion. John de Chastelain (Canada) is a retired general. He was twice the Chief of the Defence Staff in Canada and served as Canada's Ambassador in the United States. As chair of the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning, de Chastelain played a key role in the Northern Ireland peace process which led to the decommissioning of weapons by the Irish Republican Army. He was appointed Commander of the Order of Military Merit (Canada) in 1985 and in 1991, Commander of the Order of St John. In 1993, he received the Commendation Medal of Merit and Honour of Greece, and was appointed Officer of the Order of Canada. He was appointed Commander of the Legion of Merit (U.S.A.), in 1995 and in 1999 he was made a Companion of Honour (United Kingdom). Amitabha Pande (India) is a senior officer of the Indian Administrative Service, presently the administrative head of the Inter State Council of the Government of India. He has a masters Degree in English Literature from St. Stephens' College, Delhi University and a Post Graduate Diploma in Advanced Studies in Development from the University of Manchester. He has had thirty five years of diverse experience in different ministries in the Government of India and the Government of Punjab. In the 1980s, he was the architect of the entry of some of the biggest multi-national enterprises in India's agribusiness sector. He has worked in such diverse spheres as bio-technology, engineering industry, agro-processing and aviation. Johanne Poirier (Canada) is an Assistant Professor at the Free University of Brussels. She has a PhD in comparative federalism from Cambridge University. Her area of specialization includes the constitutional and legal status of intergovernmental agreements in Canada, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, and the United Kingdom. Poirier became a Research Associate at the Institute of Intergovernmental Relations at Queen's University in 1998, and she has been deeply involved with the Institute's social union project, particularly in relation to comparative disability policy. She worked as a Clerk at the Supreme Court of Canada, and for Canada's Department of Justice in Montreal. She has also participated in the Forum's programs in Belgium, Canada, Spain and Sri Lanka. For further information, contact: David-Alexandre Mac Donald at (613) 244-3360 ext. 206 or macdonald@forumfed.org
Forum of Federations
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