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Ten years of ambition and renewal for AFD Group – Promoting a world in common and France’s international action
After nearly ten years and three terms at the head of AFD Group, Rémy Rioux will step down as Chief Executive Officer on 3 May. He will take on new responsibilities related to international finance and Africa and will continue to serve as president of the Finance in Common movement, which he launched in 2020 and which today brings together public development banks worldwide.
This transition provides an opportunity to look back at the transformation undergone by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) between 2016 and 2026, in a context marked both by the momentum created by the Paris Agreement on climate change and by a growing number of crises, including in Ukraine and the Middle East, where AFD is very active.
Over the past decade, the institution has become AFD Group, bringing together AFD, Proparco, and Expertise France. Since 2016, the Group has doubled in size, reaching nearly €14 billion in annual financing and close to 1,000 new projects each year.
AFD Group multiplies its impact through stronger partnerships with other public development banks within the Finance in Common system and by mobilizing French companies, civil society, research institutions, and youth. It has become a leading partner of both the World Bank and the European Commission.
AFD has also invested in new areas of action and innovation, including sports for sustainable development, culture, democracy, and sovereign issues.
AFD has also strengthened its banking model and risk management. Over the past decade, it has doubled its equity, activity, and net income. This transformation has translated into concrete impacts for people and for global public goods.
Ten years, ten key figures
- 1,000 projects financed each year
- 5,000 employees across AFD Group
- operations in 160 countries
- 200 million people benefiting from improved access to healthcare
- 70 million hectares protected or restored for biodiversity
- 55,000 African businesses supported
- 60% of projects promoting gender equality
- nearly €8 billion per year for climate and more than €1 billion for nature
- 4 million young people made aware of sustainable development issues
- 550 public development banks brought together through Finance in Common
Read the full report
After ten years of transformation, AFD Group now aims to contribute (during France’s presidency of the G7) to shaping a new international financial architecture to address climate change and collectively manage demographic imbalances and international inequalities.
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Message from Rémy Rioux
“After ten years of ambition and renewal, the time has come for me to step down as Chief Executive Officer of Agence Française de Développement (AFD) Group at the beginning of May. I congratulate Christophe Lecourtier and wish him every success. I know he will meet the challenges of the moment with talent and experience.
I thank former President François Hollande, who appointed me in 2016 just after the negotiation of the Paris Agreement on climate change. I also thank President Emmanuel Macron for renewing his confidence in me twice and for his steadfast support.
I would also like to acknowledge the attentive and inspiring role successively played by Laurence Tubiana and Philippe Le Houérou as chairs of AFD’s Board of Directors, together with all our board members.
I am very proud of the work carried out with the 5,000 employees of AFD, Proparco, and Expertise France, alongside our clients and partners, for a world in common and for France’s international action.
Over the past decade, we have built AFD Group. It has doubled in size and has become a strategic asset for our country and for Europe; it is respected, powerful, and agile. It enables us to see the world and act in “3D” – Diplomacy, Defense, and Development. It allows us to support the most vulnerable (during the COVID-19 crisis and amid multiplying crises) and to contribute to the collective management of our global commons: climate and biodiversity, demographics and inequalities, technology, and peace.
Today, 200 million additional people benefit from improved access to healthcare and 75 million from access to drinking water. Three million farms and 55,000 African businesses have been supported. Seventy million hectares (an area the size of Türkiye) have been protected or restored.
AFD has also contributed to reconciliation efforts with Rwanda and Morocco. It has taken part in support for Ukraine and now invests €1 billion each year in sovereign issues; because there can be no development without security and no security without development. And we have supported many French stakeholders whose expertise is sought worldwide.
The booklet accompanying this message recounts this decade of transformation and recalls the four commitments I made before Parliament in May 2016, which have been upheld with full transparency ever since.
As president of the Finance in Common system, which brings together all public development banks, I will continue, from another position, to work on sustainable and solidarity-driven investment and on new forms of international cooperation, which remain essential for our shared future.
Without ever forgetting Africa – our neighbor and our future – where I have so many friends.
My sincere thanks to all of you. I have learned so much. These have been the best years of my life, so far.”
Rémy Rioux