DR ‹ › Christophe Lecourtier, currently France's ambassador to Morocco, was appointed on Tuesday, March 10, to head the French Development Agency (AFD), according to Le Monde. His appointment, approved by the executive branch, still requires parliamentary approval. The AFD is considered one of France's main instruments of international influence. President Emmanuel Macron selected the diplomat to succeed Rémy Rioux, who has held the position since 2016 and whose term will end on May 3. Before being formally confirmed in the Council of Ministers, Lecourtier's appointment must receive approval from both the National Assembly and the Senate, and is also subject to a favorable opinion from the High Authority for Transparency in Public Life, the Elysée Palace said in a statement. A 63-year-old graduate of the Ecole nationale d'administration (ENA), Lecourtier has served as an adviser to several ministers, notably Nicolas Sarkozy and Christine Lagarde when they headed the Ministry of Economy and Finance (Bercy) in 2004 and between 2007 and 2008, respectively. He later led Ubifrance, the agency responsible for supporting the international expansion of French companies, before heading Business France, which was created through the merger of Ubifrance and the French Agency for International Investments. Christophe Lecourtier has served as France's ambassador to Morocco since December 2022.
