France Appoints Ambassador to Morocco Christophe Lecourtier as New AFD Chief

Marrakech – France’s ambassador to Morocco, Christophe Lecourtier, has been officially appointed as the new director general of the French Development Agency (AFD). The appointment was confirmed by a presidential decree published in the French Official Gazette on Thursday.

In a press release, outgoing AFD chief Rémy Rioux congratulated his successor, stating, “I warmly congratulate Christophe Lecourtier, appointed today and who will succeed me starting May 11 as director general of the AFD Group, which I have had the great honor of leading for 10 years.”

The decree, signed by President Emmanuel Macron following a Council of Ministers meeting on Wednesday, came after positive votes from the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate’s Defense and Armed Forces Committee on April 8.

Rioux expressed confidence in the incoming director, noting, “I am certain he will lead our institution through this period of challenges.”

Lecourtier’s candidacy was first announced by the Elysée on Tuesday, March 10, as Macron favored him based on a proposal by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu. Parliament validated the nomination on April 8, during which the 63-year-old diplomat outlined his vision for the agency’s future direction.

He told the Senate committee he intends to carry out a geographic and sectoral reorientation of the AFD. “That will probably mean fewer countries, while preserving Africa, obviously. As much as possible, I will strengthen the concentration of budgetary resources on the poorest and most vulnerable countries,” he declared.

He also pointed to the need to reassess the AFD’s positioning in major emerging economies, particularly China, citing current geopolitical disruptions.

The appointment arrives at a critical juncture for the agency. The French government slashed a third of its official development assistance envelope in 2025, cutting nearly €2 billion. For 2026, an additional €700 million reduction was imposed, bringing the total budget down to €3.7 billion.

Lecourtier, born in 1962, is a graduate of the École Normale Supérieure de Saint-Cloud, Sciences Po Paris, and the École Nationale d’Administration (ENA). He built a career spanning ministerial cabinets, economic diplomacy, and ambassadorial postings.

He served as an adviser to Nicolas Sarkozy at the Ministry of Economy in 2004 and later as cabinet director for Christine Lagarde at the Ministry of Agriculture before becoming her special adviser at Bercy.

He led Ubifrance from 2008 to 2014, then served as France’s ambassador to Australia, where he played a role in negotiations over a major submarine contract with Canberra. He subsequently headed Business France from 2017 to 2022 before taking up his posting in Rabat in December 2022.

His tenure as ambassador to Morocco coincided with a significant shift in Franco-Moroccan relations. Following President Macron’s recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara in July 2024, Lecourtier oversaw a series of institutional steps to deepen France’s engagement in Morocco’s southern provinces.

Under his watch, AFD was authorized to operate in Western Sahara starting late 2024. In May 2025, outgoing director Rioux announced from Laayoune a €150 million investment plan for the southern regions.

France also opened a TLS Contact visa center in Laayoune in May 2025, expanding consular services to residents of Laayoune, Dakhla, and Es-Semara.

Yesterday, Lecourtier presided over the inauguration of the new site of the Lycée Français International Paul Pascon in Laayoune, the only French school in the region, now able to accommodate up to 600 students from kindergarten through the final year.

Lecourtier will officially assume his new role on May 11, replacing Rioux, who led the agency through a decade of expansion that saw annual commitments grow from €8.5 billion to nearly €12 billion across 115 countries.

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