Diplomat
"I was called the “Miss Thatcher
of the Foreign Affairs Ministry” because of my rigor, my discipline and my
sense of responsibility", remembers, amused, Farida Jaïdi, who says that the
resemblance has its limits. Her collaborators who initially feared her quickly felt that working by her
side was an excellent training: "I recognize skills and give everyone the
right place. I also
know how to defend the interests of those who work with me”, she adds. Her
affable personality does not let one guess have a glimpse of the woman with an
iron fist that she must have been to assume her mission as ambassador. In 2001, Farida Jaïdi was appointed by His
Majesty King Mohammed VI as ambassador to Sweden, where she remained for five
years before being appointed to Brazil. Would she imagine, small, to represent her
country abroad? Not sure
if personality, Farida Jaïdi, eldest of six daughters, always had: "My
father said that I was the boy of the family. For him, it was a compliment! I regretted that he died when I was appointed
ambassador”. Student at the Jeanne d'Arc school in Rabat, she continued her education at the
Lalla Aïcha junior high school:" I wanted to be a dietician then a lawyer but
ultimately I became a diplomat. I thus was able both to defend my country and to taste good food through
the receptions I organized! "
Appointed Consul General in
Canada in 1999, she brought together sixty personalities from the academic and
artistic worlds around the theme of "Moroccan women on the move". Farida Jaïdi does not think about retirement. She now provides training to the young diplomats
of the Foreign Affairs Ministry and also founded in 2016, the “Environmental Women Association: "We are working for the establishlment of public toilets hat are
clean and separate, but also accessible to the disabled. The health, hygiene and education of citizens
are at stake. "