Senior Deputy Secretary General

Mariam Diallo has been serving as Senior Deputy Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean since March 2026.

A career diplomat, this senior French civil servant brings more than twenty years of experience in multilateral negotiations, international development, and cultural cooperation.

She passed the competitive examination for Foreign Affairs Advisor (Orient ) in 2004 and has since held senior-level responsibilities both at headquarters and in bilateral postings, as well as within international organizations.

From September 2023 to March 2026, she served as Chief of Staff to the Secretary General of the Union for the Mediterranean in Barcelona. In this capacity, she led a major institutional reform and oversaw the development of a new strategic vision for the organization, strengthening its strategic positioning and operational capacity in the region.

From 2019 to 2023, she was Counsellor for Cooperation and Cultural Affairs at the French Embassy in Ireland, where she structured and consolidated the cultural, educational, and scientific partnership between France and Ireland.

Between 2016 and 2019, she served as Senior Advisor to the French Executive Director at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. In this role, she contributed to shaping strategic orientations on climate, biodiversity, and development.

At the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, she notably served as Deputy Director for Human Development (2014–2016) and as Middle East Advisor at the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations in New York (2011–2014).

Earlier in her career, she was Second Counsellor and Spokesperson in Tel Aviv (2007–2011), after following the Palestinian portfolio at headquarters (2004–2007).

A graduate of the Institut d’Études Politiques of Aix-en-Provence and holder of a postgraduate degree in Comparative Political Science, she speaks English, Arabic, Hebrew, and Spanish.
Committed to effective and inclusive multilateralism, she places equality, diversity, and sustainable development at the heart of her diplomatic action.