In 1981, President François Mitterrand called him to the Elysee as a diplomatic advisor. He became spokesman of the Elysee in 1988 after the reelection of François Mitterrand, then Secretary General of the Presidency (1991-95). He joined the Council of State in 1995. In May 1997, after the victory of the Socialist Party (PS) in the legislative elections, Jacques Chirac named him Minister of Foreign Affairs, a position that he kept until the end of the cohabitation in May 2002.
He has written extensively on the emergence of Asia, Latin America, Africa and other emerging market economies; financial development; and infrastructure. He is a co-author and co-editor of many books, such as India 2039 - An affluent society in one generation (2010), Africa 2050 - Realizing the continent’s full potential(2014), and Central Asia 2050: Unleashing the region’s potential(2016) and China’s Belt and Road Initiative: Potential Transformation of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, 2019.
Prior to that, he was Vice President for Corporate Development at Arlon Capital Partners, a New York based Global Private Equity Firm focused in Food and Agriculture investments. He holds a Master’s of Laws Degree (LL.M.) from Harvard Law School, a Diplome (M.A.) from the Institut d’Etudes Politiques de Paris – Sciences-Po (Major in International Trade) and an LL.B. from the University of Sao Paulo Law School.
He supported the Director of North Asia Bank in restructuring the Bank’s Sources and Uses portfolio (2008-09) and assisted the Director of Saigon Bank for Trade and Industry in analyzing the bank’s financial situation and proposed measures to improve its performance (2007-12). He published several books and articles, among which “Impact of Financial Liberalization on Poverty Reduction,” Vietnam’s Socio Economic Development, No. 70, June 2012 ad “Bank On Wheels” Finance and Development, No. 40, June 2004, IMF.
He has directed reform projects in more than a dozen African countries, including Rwanda, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Ethiopia, Somalia and Mozambique. Greg Mills has been a visiting fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at Australia National University, Cambridge University’s Centre for African Studies, the Vietnamese Academy for Social Sciences, and at Shanghai University’s Centre for Global Studies.
Francis Perrin is also giving lectures at the Institut de Relations Internationales et Stratégiques (French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs - IRIS, course on energy security) and at the Lyon 3 Jean Moulin University. He is a Senior Research Fellow at IRIS. He is also a senior adviser to SPTEC Advisory and an associate editor to the Paris-based energy weekly Petrostrategies. He is the author of the chapters on crude oil and refined products in "Cyclope - World Commodity Yearbook", an annual report on commodities published in Paris by the editions Economica.
Shortly after obtaining her law degree and becoming a judge, she entered politics where she took on various roles as Secretary of State of Justice, parliamentarian and general secretary of the Socialist Parliamentary Group. Maria Teresa has also been a member of the Civil Society Advisory to UN Women. In 2012, she founded the Mujeres por Africa Foundation, for the purpose of contributing to the development of Africa through the drive of its women.
He is also a board member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in France and writes a piece about Europe twice a month in the newspaper L’Opinion. After studying at the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Lettres et Sciences humaines), Sciences-Po and ENA, he became administrative judge and has been teaching public law at Sciences-Po in Paris (2005-10). He has been elected in France as a Socialist Party (PS) candidate both on the local and national levels and is involved in several progressive think tanks.
He held positions as Deputy and National Senator for the Misiones Province in the Argentine Parliament for several years. He was elected for two consecutive four-year terms Governor of the Misiones Province (1991-99). In 1994 he was one of the governors elected as Constitutional Constituent for the reform of the Argentine National Constitution. As Senator, he was elected President of the National Senate, and after the resignation of President Fernando de la Rúa, he became interim president of the Argentine Republic in December 2001.
He served as a member of the European Parliament (MEP) in the capacity of vice-chair of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON), and a member of the European Statistical Advisory Committee (ESAC). Professor and former Head of the Department of Economics at the University of Malta, Chairman of the Malta Financial Services Authority, Chairman of the Malta Council of Economic and Social Development, board director of the Central Bank of Malta, and Electoral Commissioner. Graduated at the Universities of Oxford, Malta and Toronto (Masters and Doctorate in Economics).
