President Eddie Fenech Adami yesterday formally received two new ambassadors accredited to Malta.
Daniel Rondeau, the new French Ambassador, is a novelist and has worked as a journalist. Between 1982 and 1985 he was the editor of the cultural pages of the newspapers Liberation. He also served as international reporter for the magazine Le Nouvel Observateur between 1986 and 1989 and became responsible for the editorial of the magazine L'Express after 1999.
He launched the book collection Quai Voltaire in 1987 and was responsible for the Bouquins collection during the past four years. He wrote various novels (Dans la marche du temps), essays, autobiographic narratives (L'enthousiasme, Les Vignes de Berlin) and numerous narratives on Mediterranean cities (Tangiers, Istanbul, Alexandria, Carthage), translated in many countries.
Mr Rondeau is married to Noelle and has two children.
The new Belgian Ambassador to Malta, Jean François Delahaut, studied at the Catholic University of Louvain in Belgium from where he obtained a Bachelor of Laws in 1980. He furthered his studies at the City of London Polytechnic Summer School and again at the Catholic University of Louvain from where he obtained a Diploma in International Law and a Masters in Economic (Business).
His diplomatic career started in 1984 when he served as junior professional officer at the United National Industrial Development Organisation (Unido) and was assigned to the United National Development Programmes (UNPD) at the field office in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
After completing the Belgian diplomatic exams and training, he was appointed as attaché at the Permanent Representation of Belgium to the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva from 1992 and 1995. Mr Delahaut was then posted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brussels as assistant to the director - GATT/WTO Division.
Between 1996 and 1996 he became deputy director at the political bilateral relation with the sub-Saharan African countries division at the ministry.
He was subsequently posted in Hanoi as counsellor at the embassy of Belgium in 1998. He served as minister-counsellor at the embassy of Belgium in Tokyo (1999 - 2003) and as minister-counsellor at the Embassy of Belgium in Luxembourg (2003 - 2005). In 2005 he was posted as counsellor and adviser to the president of the Comité Interministerial pour la Politique de Siège in Brussels.
The ambassador is married to Hea Cheo Hoan and has two children.