2024 New Year Wishes from Jérémie Pellet, Chief Executive Officer of Expertise France
“This success demonstrates the strength and quality of our partnerships”
Dear Partners,
I once again have the pleasure of wishing you the very best, on behalf of all the teams of Expertise France, for this new year 2024.
2023 was a year full of challenges for the agency. The major crises which have sadly marked international events in recent months have brought us to rethink our activity, so that we can provide the most effective response to the major challenges of our times, and continue to work together to address the needs of the most vulnerable people.
Consequently, 2023 was a year where Expertise France stepped up the development of new projects, with a 172% increase in the total amount of contracts signed. These contracts signed by the agency continue to be mainly in Africa, but the development of our activity in Ukraine, the Indo-Pacific region and Asia shows how we are opening up to new geographical areas. We have continued to diversify our activity and we have extended the scope of our operations to new thematic areas, such as environmental justice, artificial intelligence, and the space sector. These successes are directly reflected in the figures and, once again this year, we have done better than in the previous years with a record business volume of €374 million.
This success is the result of the work carried out on a daily basis. It is of course the success of our teams, at headquarters and in the field, whom I would like to thank here. But it also demonstrates the strength and quality of the partnerships we have established with you all, in all the countries where we operate. I would like to thank each and every one of you for your renewed confidence and your commitment with us.
Let me assure you that this year again, we will remain fully mobilised and committed around the world to support the public policies that are necessary to sustainable and inclusive development. This is especially important as the major challenges facing the world still persist today. Now more than ever, we need to stand united in addressing the climate challenges and assisting the most vulnerable countries towards sustainable solutions. This is the message that we reiterated at COP28 in Dubai and that we will continue to convey in all the international arenas where we are present.
The challenges of our time call for strong and collective responses, and that is why we can congratulate ourselves on the continuation, and especially the success, of our integration into AFD Group. This success has helped build a group identity which is continuing to be strengthened, with the prospect of bringing all the teams together at the Cité du Développement site in 2027. It also reflected in the increase in the share of AFD financing in our activity, and a more decentralised organisation of our agency in the countries where we operate. The objective is to continually enhance our effectiveness and means of action in support of our partners.
2023 was also marked by the key moments of the French political agenda, with the Presidential Development Council meeting on 5 May and the adoption of the policy guidelines for international cooperation and Official Development Assistance. These two key moments of the French political agenda have resulted in a renewal of the priority objectives of France’s development and international solidarity policy. 2024 opens a new chapter with the validation of our ambition for the next three years, for 2024-2026, which will enable the agency to implement these new French political priorities for the benefit of development and international solidarity.
Lastly, 2024 will obviously be under the banner of sport, with the organisation of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris this summer. This theme will also be highlighted at Expertise France and internationally with the implementation of new innovative projects for young people.
To conclude these New Year wishes, I would like to thank you again for the strength of the partnerships we develop year after year, without which we would be unable to accomplish our missions, and I look forward to seeing you in December 2024 when we will be celebrating the agency’s tenth anniversary. This anniversary also, and especially, marks this relationship of trust that we have built with each and every one of you throughout this decade. Thank you all and I wish you a very happy New Year 2024!
Jérémie Pellet
Chief Executive Officer of Expertise France