Jean-David Levitte | |
---|---|
Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations | |
In office 2000–2002 |
|
President | Jacques Chirac |
Secretary General | Kofi Annan |
Preceded by | Alain Dejammet |
Succeeded by | Jean-Marc de La Sablière |
Ambassador of France to the United States | |
In office 2002–2007 |
|
President | Jacques Chirac |
Preceded by | François Bujon de l'Estang |
Succeeded by | Pierre Vimont |
Personal details | |
Born |
Moissac, France |
14 June 1946
Nationality | French |
Alma mater | Sciences Po |
Profession | Diplomat |
Jean-David Levitte (born 14 June 1946) is a French diplomat, formerly the French ambassador to the United States, and former diplomatic advisor and sherpa to former Presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy. He has also been named head of the future National Security Council.
Levitte was born in Moissac, in the south of France. He is a graduate of Sciences Po and of the French National School of Oriental Languages, where he studied Chinese and Indonesian. He is married to Marie-Cécile Jonas and has two daughters.
His firsts posts were in Hong Kong in 1970 and in Beijing, China from 1972 to 1974. In the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs itself, he has served as Director of Economic Affairs (1974–1975), Assistant Director of West Africa (1984–1986), Assistant Director of the Cabinet (1986–1988), Director of Asia and Oceania (1990–1993), and General Director of Cultural, Scientific, and Technical Relations (1993–1995).
Between 1981 and 1984 he was the Adviser to the Permanent Mission of France at the United Nations in New York.
In 1988, he was designated to his first position as Ambassador and served as the French Permanent Representative to the United Nations Office in Geneva from 1988 to 1990.
Between 1975 and 1981, he was the chargé de mission at the General Secretariat of the President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing.
Between 1995 and 2000 he was a diplomatic adviser and sherpa to the French president Jacques Chirac, a position to which he returned in 2007, under President Nicolas Sarkozy.
From 2000 to 2002, he was Ambassador to the United Nations in New York, representing France at the Security Council before and during the negotiation that lead to the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1441 on Iraq. He was president of the Security Council in September 2001 and presiding over the Council's deliberations following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.