Maurice Gourdault-Montagne
 Maurice Gourdault-Montagne    (diplomat, polyglot) | |
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| Born | 16 November 1953 paris |
| Nationality | French |
| Alma mater | Sciences Po, Panthéon-Assas University |
Maurice Gourdault-Montagne is a career French diplomat and senior advisor to the President and Prime Minister.
Early Life
Maurice Gourdault-Montagne is graduate of the Institut d'études politiques de Paris (IEP), a holder of a master's degree in law from Paris 2 Assas and a graduate of the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations (Hindi and Urdu). He also studied German (Paris 4 Sorbonne).
He joined the French Foreign Ministry (Quai d'Orsay) in 1978. He held various diplomatic posts in India (1981-1983) and Germany (1988-1991), in charge of the mission to the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1983) as well as to the central administration in the cabinet of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (1986-1988), as deputy spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry (1991-1993) and as deputy director of the cabinet of Minister Alain Juppé (1993-1995) from which he became the chief of staff for the Prime Minister between May 1995 at May 1997.
He was French Ambassador to Japan from 1998 to 2002, he was diplomatic advisor to President Jacques Chirac during his second term (2002-2007) and French sherpa to the president at the G8. In this capacity, he prepared the French presidency of the G8 in 2003. He was in charge of the Franco-Indian strategic dialogue and the Franco-Chinese strategic dialogue as the personal representative of the President between 2002 and 2007. In december 2007, he became French Ambassador to the United Kingdom. Approached for the French Embassy in Berlin, he was appointed to this post on February 9, 2011.
On August 1, 2014, he took over the management of the French Embassy in China. Philippe Étienne, Ambassador to the European Union in Brussels, succeeded him in Berlin.
At each diplomatic post he was appointed to, he attempted to learn the language of the country. He thus speaks German, English, Spanish, Italian, Urdu, Japanese, Russian and has some skill in Arabic and Bambara.
On February 8, 2017, he was appointed French Ambassador to Washington, but he did not take this post, having been appointed, after the election of Emmanuel Macron as President, to Secretary-General of the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.
He was a member of the boards of directors of EDF and Orano in september 2017 at july 2019, as well as CAs from France Médias-Monde and INALCO.
From 2019, Maurice Gourdault-Montagne turned to the business world, and on December 19, 2019, he created his own consulting company, MGM-GO (for “Global Outlook”)[1]. After having sat on the board of directors of EDF, he was appointed on January 20, 2020 by the Gifen (professional nuclear union) president of the World Nuclear Exhibition [ 7 ] . However, the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life decided in May 2020 that this activity of the former diplomat was unethical, a decision confirmed by the Council of State [ 8 ] .
Events Witnessed
| Event | Location(s) | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Munich Security Conference/2013 | Germany Munich Bavaria | The 49th Munich Security Conference |
| Munich Security Conference/2014 | Germany Munich Bavaria | The 50th Munich Security Conference |
