M. Charles Todjinou, charge d'affaires and minister-counselor of the Benin Embassy to the United States, will address Buffalo State College students in Bacon Hall 115 on Thursday, March 13 at noon. The event, sponsored by the college's French Club, is open to the public. Todjinou will speak on "the Diversity of the French-speaking World" in the framework of International French Week, an international observance administered by the International Organisation of the Francophonie (OIS).

Todjinou is a specialist on the French-speaking world. As a government official, he was a key figure in preparatory work for several Francophone summits of heads of state including the Francophone Summit in 1995 when Benin played host to fifty heads of state of countries in which French is spoken as a first or second language. He was decorated with his nation's National Order of Merit for service to the French-speaking world in 1996. A career diplomat, Todjinou has served successively as head of the North American, French and European Divisions of the Foreign Ministry of Benin. From 1997 to 1999, he was minister-counselor to the U. N. where he served as co-president of the French-speaking group on the second commission dealing with economics, commerce, the environment and sustainable development. In addition to his current position, he is Benin's liaison to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. Todjinou obtained his law degree from the University of Benin and pursued further studies in Diplomacy at Oxford University, at the International Institute of Public Administration in Paris and Berlin.