He even has the title "Secretary General". As the former UN Secretary General Dr Boutros Boutros-Ghali closed five days of Francophonie meetings here yesterday, it was hard not to conclude that he is creating a little United Nations clone, with French largesse.
"We have the same objectives as the UN," Dr Boutros-Ghali admitted: "We want to promote peace, development and cultural co-operation."
Paris fought a losing battle with Washington for a second term as UN secretary general for the French-educated - these things matter - Egyptian diplomat. When that failed they tailor-made the job of "Secretary General" of La Francophonie for him.
Dr Boutros-Ghali has high ambitions for La Francophonie - France's answer to the British Commonwealth - of which he became the first leader last November. But before discussing those ambitions, he wanted to make one thing clear: La Francophonie is not, repeat not, against the English language. Nor is it an attempt to counter US political and commercial influence.
"La Francophonie is to defend pluri-lingualism and cultural diversity," he said. "Through this diversity we will achieve democracy on a world scale."
"Globalisation is decreasing the power of individual countries," he continued.
"If problems are not dealt with in a democratic, multi-lateral way, they will be dealt with in an authoritarian manner by one or two powers." So much for co-operation rather than confrontation. Dr Boutros-Ghali was obviously referring to that old French obsession: l'hegemonie americaine.
The French government is funding La Francophonie to the tune of Fr 1 billion (£119 million) a year, and already the bureaucracy and acronyms - those scourges of France, the UN and the Third World - are proliferating. The press hand-out from Dr Boutros-Ghali's minions was almost unintelligible: CPF, CLAC, EIF, AIMF and AUPELF-UREF are enough to put anyone off the language of Moliere.
Forty-nine countries sent representatives to this week's ministerial conference - including 32 foreign ministers, Dr Boutros-Ghali noted proudly. Mother France pledged Fr 15 million (£1.78 million) to encourage the use of French in international organisations, plus another Fr 4 million to create an "observatory of law, democracy and peace". But there was "no question of intervening in the affairs of any state unless the state requests it" - oh, shades of the UN!
French leaders often lament English language domination of the Internet, and Paris promised another Fr 30 million (£3.57 million) to finance French language "information highways".
His new international organisation has a great role to play in improving North-South relations, Dr Boutros-Ghali said. "Since the end of the Cold War, the world has been losing interest in North-South problems. There are countries from both the North and the South in La Francophonie."
So why do French-speaking African students have such difficulty obtaining visas to study in France, an African journalist asked? Dr Boutros-Ghali beat a hasty retreat. "You must see La Francophonie in the largest sense," he said. "It is also a South-South organisation."
Readers, Mother France is not abandoning her children: Africans are welcome to study at the French-language Universite Leopold Senghor - in Dr Boutros-Ghali's home city of Alexandria, Egypt.