Biographie

His professional experience mainly covers the Asia-Pacific region and politico-military issues. He was successively First Secretary at the French Embassy in China from 1996 to 2000 and at the French Embassy in the United States from 2000 to 2002, and Deputy Director for the Far East from 2003 to 2005. From 2008 to 2012, Marc Abensour was France’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the NATO Council, then Diplomatic Advisor to the Minister of Defence in 2014 and Director for International, Strategic and Technological Affairs at the General Secretariat for Defence and National Security in 2012 and 2013.
Prior to his appointment as Ambassador for the Indo-Pacific, Mr Abensour was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Singapore from 2016 to 2022. He succeeded Christophe Penot, former Ambassador to Malaysia and Australia, who was the first Ambassador for the Indo-Pacific.
Created in September 2020, the purpose of this post is to strengthen France’s Indo-Pacific strategy and assert French diplomacy in the region. Based in Paris, the Indo-Pacific Ambassador has a role of coordinating, representing and promoting the French Indo-Pacific strategy. He travels throughout the region to identify and initiate concrete projects aimed at developing partnerships of sovereignty with the Indo-Pacific countries.
The Ambassador for the Indo-Pacific has 4 priorities:
1 – In liaison with the General Secretariat for Defence and National Security (SGDSN), he ensures the interministerial coordination of France’s Indo-Pacific strategy for each of its four pillars: security and defence; economy, connectivity and innovation; multilateralism and the rule of law; climate change, biodiversity and sustainable ocean management.
2 – It participates in the representation of our country in the region and reinforces the appropriation of the Indo-Pacific strategy by all public and private actors. It contributes to increasing our cooperation with partners in the region and regional organisations, as well as deepening the integration of French overseas territories in their neighbourhood.
3 – It promotes the French vision of an inclusive Indo-Pacific, in which France wants to act as a stabilising power, committed to effective multilateralism based on the rule of law.
4 – It participates in the implementation of the European strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, in consultation with the institutions of the European Union and the other Member States.