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Myriam l'aouffir

In front of her, leaning back in his chair, is Peter Woeste, the German ambassador to the country, an impressively self-confident man. He has brought along his counterparts from Japan, China, Ireland and France. But at this moment, he is the center of attention. Feeling flattered, Woeste's confidence seems to grow as he sits in his chair.

Lagarde begins telling her story. It's about her 57th birthday, which she celebrated on Mauritius around New Year's. Well, that's reassuring. Lagarde smiles, granting him his joke. She is well-traveled and sure-footed on the international stage. She knows ministers and national leaders throughout the world, and she is on a first-name basis with most of them.

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That is her trump card: No matter whom she's dealing with, Lagarde always knows someone who is more important. She looks Woeste straight in the eye. This time she doesn't give him the chance to interject anything before she gets to the point of her story. Madame Lagarde is traveling in Africa. On her seven-day trip, from East to West and South to North, she will visit three extremely poor countries that rarely make it into the news: Malawi, Ivory Coast and Mauritania.

She wants to talk about the devaluation of the Malawian kwacha, the cocoa harvest in Ivory Coast and the future of the Mauritanian fishing industry. None of this has much to do with Europe.