MOSCOW. Nov 10 (Interfax-AVN) - Isabelle Francois has been appointed the new director of the NATO Information Office in Moscow, replacing Rolf Welberts, an office press release received by Interfax-Military News Agency on Wednesday says.
Until recently she worked as a leading expert on defense cooperation at the Division of Defense Policy and Planning at NATO headquarters in Brussels.
Francois was born in Paris on March 14, 1962. She graduated from the Paris University in 1984. She received a magister's degree in international relations at the Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada, in 1986, and a doctor's degree in political sciences in the University of Montreal in 1990.
She worked with several Canadian higher educational establishments and governmental bodies. From 1993 to 1998 she held various posts in the Canadian Defense Ministry, and from 1998 to 2004 in the NATO Secretariat in Brussels.
Francois has written 26 articles and scientific works on security issues, including NATO and its defense policy, as well as on regional security issues in Europe and Africa.
The NATO Information Office in Moscow as opened in 2001. It provides the Russian public with information on NATO and other security issues.