Christophe Lecourtier, then director general of Business France, in his office in Paris, July 2, 2020. MOHAMMED BADRA/EPA/MAXPPP
France's ambassador to Morocco, Christophe Lecourtier, is expected to take over leadership of the French Development Agency (AFD), the Elysée announced on Tuesday, March 10. President Emmanuel Macron selected the diplomat to succeed Rémy Rioux, who has served as director general of the public institution since 2016 and is set to leave his post on May 3. Lecourtier's appointment must still be approved by the far-right Assemblée Nationale and the Sénat before it is formalized in the Council of Ministers, and is "subject to the favorable opinion of the Haute Autorité pour la transparence de la vie publique [High Authority for Transparency in Public Life]," according to the Elysée.
The AFD is one of France's principal instruments of influence abroad. The institution implements Paris's international development and solidarity policy by funding and supporting projects, particularly in infrastructure, climate, health and education.
Lecourtier, a 63-year-old graduate of France's top school for elite civil servants, has been an adviser to several ministers, including Nicolas Sarkozy and Christine Lagarde when they were at Bercy (the French finance ministry) in 2004 and 2007 – 2008, respectively. As CEO of Ubifrance, the agency responsible for helping French companies expand internationally, he was appointed ambassador to Australia in 2014, where he participated in negotiations on the so-called "contract of the century" – a deal for the delivery of 12 submarines to Canberra that was canceled in 2021. He then led Business France, the result of a merger between Ubifrance and the French Agency for International Investments, before being appointed ambassador to Morocco at the end of 2022.
