Philippe Etienne Elected President of the Paris Peace Forum: he Succeeds Ángel Gurría

Paris, April 1st, 2026 - Following a unanimous vote by the executive council of the Paris Peace Forum, diplomat Philippe Etienne, former counselor of Emmanuel Macron and former ambassador of France to Germany and the United States, succeeds Ángel Gurría at the presidency of the Forum.

Philippe Etienne's Biography

From Central Europe, where his vocation as a diplomat was born, to Washington, where he experienced Trump’s America and its growing polarization—via Berlin and Moscow, where he witnessed the collapse of the Soviet Union—Philippe Etienne has, for forty years, stood on the front lines of History. A member of several ministerial cabinets at the Quai d’Orsay, Director General for International Cooperation and Development, and later diplomatic advisor at the Élysée for two years, Emmanuel Macron’s Sherpa played an active role in the renewed momentum he sought to give Europe in 2017, after having represented France in Brussels. He was subsequently appointed French ambassador to the United States and experienced, from 2019 to 2023, the upheaval in Franco-American relations. More recently, in his role as president of the mission for the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings and the Liberation, he has applied his keen sense of diplomacy to the organization of a series of major commemorative events.

Unanimous Election by the Forum’s Executive Council

Philippe Etienne succeeds Ángel Gurría, former Secretary-General of the OECD and president of the Forum since its 6th edition in 2023, following a unanimous vote by the Forum’s Executive Council. Elected by the Forum’s General Assembly for a three-year term, the Executive Council is currently composed of nine organizations from both the Global North and the Global South: the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), the European Commission, the Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI), México Evalúa, Microsoft, the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Mo Ibrahim Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS).

Vision for this New Presidency

Under Philippe Etienne's presidency, the Paris Peace Forum will address geopolitical issues more head-on in response to an increasingly volatile international environment, while strengthening its multi-actor model to tackle the global challenges that persist. This will include reinforcing initiatives such as the dialogue between Israeli and Palestinian civil societies in support of the Two-State Solution (13 June 2025), and continuing efforts to build consensus through the same channel by focusing on ongoing conflicts, including forgotten conflicts.

"The Paris Peace Forum's founding promise of bridging the North-South divide through multi-actor cooperation has never been more urgent. My presidency is rooted in a personal history deeply tied to this institution. I intend to strengthen its ambition: to work for peace and for global governance fit to meet the challenges of our time." — Philippe Etienne

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About the Paris Peace Forum: The Forum is a platform to originate, shape & share multi-actor responses towards global peace & sustainable prosperity. By convening key decision-makers and fostering collaboration between governments, international organizations, businesses, and civil society, we ensure that diplomacy is not just discussed but reinvented to meet the demands of a changing world. For more information, visit parispeaceforum.org.