Meet the Ambassador

Mr. Laurent Bili is the Ambassador of France to the United States.

 

He was born on August 12, 1961 (62 years old).

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A graduate of the French National School of Public Administration (ENA) (Victor Hugo Year, 1989-91), Laurent Bili joined the French Foreign Ministry’s Strategic Affairs and Disarmament Directorate (1991-93).

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Seconded to the Defense Ministry as Deputy Diplomatic Adviser (1993-95), he then held several positions at the Quai d’Orsay:

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• First Secretary and then Second Counsellor at the Embassy of France in Ankara (1995-99),

• First Secretary, Permanent Representative of France to the Western European Union (WEU) (1998-2000),

• Adviser to the European Union’s interim Political and Security Committee (PSC) in Brussels (2000-02),

• Head of Strategic Affairs (2002).
   

In 2002, he was Director of the Private Office of the Minister Delegate for European Affairs and became technical adviser at the Diplomatic Unit of the Presidency of the French Republic (2002-07).

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He successively held the positions of Ambassador to Thailand (2007-09), Director of the Defense Minister’s Civilian and Military Office (2009-10), Ambassador to Turkey (2011-15) and then to Brazil (2015-17).

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Laurent Bili was then Director-General for Global Affairs, Culture, Education and International Development at the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and G7/G20 Sous-Sherpa (2017-2019).

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Prior to his appointment in Washington, Laurent Bili was Ambassador to China since September 2019.