He served as French Ambassador to Japan in 1998 and became Senior Diplomatic Counsellor to President of the French Republic Jacques Chirac and French sherpa to the G8 . As representative of the President of the French Republic, he was in charge of the franco-indian and franco-chinese strategic dialogue from 2002 to 2007 . He was then appointed as French Ambassador to the United Kingdom in December 2007, French Ambassador in Berlin in February 2011 and French Ambassador to China in August 2014 . At is meeting of 22 June 2017, the French Council of Ministers appointed Maurice Gourdault Montagne as Secretary-General of the Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, starting the 1st of August 2017.
