New French Co-Chair of OSCE Minsk Group Assumes Office

PARIS — The new French co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group Stephane Visconti has assumed his post, the French Foreign Ministry has stated according to APA website. 54-year-old Visconti is replacing Pierre Andrieu in this position.

The ministry also said Visconti will take part in the OSCE FMs’ Hamburg summit in December – along with the other co-chairs, where they will hold meetings with the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The co-chairs also plan to organize a meeting between the Foreign Ministers of Armenia and Azerbaijan in Hamburg, the main subject of discussion being the organization of a meeting between the Presidents of the two countries.

Stephane Visconti was born in 1962 in Paris. He studied business management at ESSEC Business School.

In 1987-1989 he worked as economic and finance consultant at Booz Allen, and in 1989-1994 he was Director of International Development at Club Med.

In 1994 he started working at the Ministry Foreign of Affairs of France, and in 1998 he became Diplomatic Adviser to Lionel Jospin, then French Prime Minister.

In 2002 Stephane Visconti was Consul General of France in St. Petersburg.

In 2005-2008 he worked as International Relations Adviser to Paris Mayor.

In 2008-2011 he was Consul of France in Munich.

In 2012 he was Secretary General of the French delegation at the 67th session of the UN General Assembly.

From 2013 to 17 October 2016 Stephane Visconti was French Ambassator to Latvia.

Apart from native French, he is fluent in Russian, German, and English. He also speaks Italian, Swedish, Georgian and Turkish.