Rémy Rioux, aged 49, is a senior civil servant and a trained historian. During his career, he has alternated between responsibilities in France and those working for sustainable development and for the African continent. He has been CEO of AFD Group, the financial branch of France's diplomacy and development policy, since June 2, 2016.
During Mr Rioux’s first term, AFD grew significantly. Its annual commitments rose from €8.5 billion to €11.5 billion. The Agency has more than €2 billion in additional national and European budgetary resources in 2019 compared to 2015. This significantly enhances its ability to take action in favor of social sectors and in some of the most difficult environments. The priorities for its action remain Africa and the fight against climate change.
AFD Group has become more innovative with the creation of the "Digital Africa” platform, which supports African start-ups, and the "Choose Africa" program for SMEs and microenterprises on that continent. The Agency is also involved in new sectors: cultural and creative industries and sport at the service of development. In this area, it mobilizes French stakeholders such as major international federations and French sportspeople, with the 2024 Paris Olympic Games as the time horizon. The Group is also more involved in partnerships through its support for French local authorities in their cooperation activities, the strengthening of its bonds with civil society, particularly in the most fragile countries, and the forging of closer ties with French companies.
Since 2017, Rémy Rioux has also been President of the International Development Finance Club (IDFC), a network of the 24 largest national and regional public development banks in the world, including the German KFW, the Chinese CBD, the Moroccan CDG, the Brazilian BNDES, the PT-SMI of Indonesia, the Japanese JICA and the DBSA of South Africa. The club has $850 billion in annual funding to support the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.
I would like to thank the President of the Republic, the Government and Parliament for the trust they have placed in me. I am proud of the work accomplished over the past three years alongside the 2500 employees of AFD Group, and of the very strong consensus that has emerged regarding my plans for AFD. In the coming three years I will focus the Group's energy on three priority areas. The first is to implement France's development policy in order to achieve the 2030 agenda of the Sustainable Development Goals, with a geographical priority, Africa, and our sectoral priorities, which are the fight against vulnerabilities, education, climate, gender equality and health. The second is to further our country’s cooperation by bridging the gap toward the South for all actors who wish to contribute to the development of our partners and create a positive link with France. Finally, the third is to pursue AFD's transformation toward greater efficiency and impact on the ground, in particular by strengthening the evaluation of our projects. This new mandate opens with the ambition to make the French people far more aware of the challenges of our development action and its results and impacts. Although 80% of my fellow citizens support France's development action, the same percentage of people consider themselves insufficiently informed. We must better publicize the projects we support and our ability to positively influence sustainable development in the future.
Timeline:
- 26 June 1969: born in Neuilly-sur-Seine
- 1997: upon graduation from ENA (Marc Bloch class), appointed auditor at the Court of Auditors where he became Senior Advisor in 2013
- 2001 and 2002: budget advisor to Daniel Vaillant's cabinet at the Ministry of the Interior
- 2003: audit missions in the energy and defense sectors at the Court of Auditors
- 2004: Treasury Directorate, Head of the Office for Monetary Cooperation and Development with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and the Zone Franc
- 2007: Deputy Director of Transport and Audiovisual Technology of the State Participation Agency
- 2010: Deputy Director of International Financial Affairs and Development at the Treasury Directorate General
- 2012 to 2014: Director of Pierre Moscovici's cabinet at the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Budget
- 2014: Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Development, in charge of economic affairs
- 2015: responsible for financial matters within the French negotiating team for COP21.
- June 2016: appointed 11th Chief Executive Officer of the Agence Française de Développement.
- October 2017: appointed President of the International Development Finance Club (IDFC)
- June 2019: new 3-year term at the head of the Agence Française de Développement Group.