Former Monegasque diplomat and statesman Jacques Boisson opens up in an autobiographical account

Jacques Boisson remains a pioneer of Monegasque representation within major international organizations. It was enough to evoke his career during the presentation of his book "Chronicles of a Monegasque Diplomat" at the Louis-Notari Library to understand his participation in the decisive stages of the Principality's diplomatic opening. Without exaggeration, he was often the driving force behind it.

Another example heard during this hearing was his position as Monaco's first ambassador to the UN in 1993. "Certainly very impressed to appear before 183 representatives, I did everything I could to directly defend my country's positions, " confided the former Secretary of State . "This at all levels of global issues, such as the environment, human rights, cultural cooperation, and even more, and to forge strategic alliances."

Pioneer of the French-speaking world

The author offers a deliberately intimate 238-page narrative, insistently focused on the human element and charged with intense emotions. It is therefore not simply a question of narrating a banal autobiographical diplomatic career point by point. But of presenting a return to memories of "old days" as Verlaine called them in his "Saturnian Poems" brought up to date with appropriate sensibilities: solemn, analytical or simply narrative.

In addition to a large space devoted to family origins, the author, who is also honorary president of the association "Les Rencontres littéraires" (Literary Encounters) , which bears the name of his late son, talks about his discoveries, his taste for history, travel, international law, and even his underlying feeling for politics. The framework is perfect for framing the major chronological stages of a life that blends personal life and collective memory. This highlights the role of this emissary in the creation of the International Organization of La Francophonie, which provided Monaco with "a cultural platform and power strengthening its identity in terms of the official language while expanding partnerships."

Daily notes

The presentation of the book would not have been complete without highlighting the role played by this diplomat in opening up to Europe. As the first ambassador in this large Council of 46 member states following its Monegasque accession in 2004, Jacques Boisson tirelessly contributed to affiliating the Principality "in all European standards in terms of rights and governance in order to strengthen this institutional credibility essential for a modern State" . Among other things, his posts at the embassies in Paris and Madrid confirm his drive to structure a permanent diplomatic network.

But what is the genesis of this form of testament against forgetting? A simple back-and-forth between the present and memories? Even more! From daily drafts made with pen strokes at the crack of dawn, these documents caught the attention of his collaborator and author Nycole Pouchoulin. With the desire to put the texts in the right order for publication in the form of testimonies of the work accomplished for future generations. Several copies were signed and offered to his many friends at the Louis-Notari library in the presence of local personalities and members of his family, a stone's throw from the author's birthplace and his earliest memories, on this same street formerly called rue de la Poste.