Ambassador Gala

The Board of Directors and Officers of the French-American Chamber of Commerce San Francisco cordially invite you to join us for:

A dinner honoring
His Excellency Pierre Vimont
The French Ambassador to the United States

He will address the audience on the theme: France-USA: a new Era?

Monday, April 7th - 7:00 pm
Alexandra Room - Westin St Francis
335 Powell Street - San Francisco, CA 94102
See directions

The French-American Chamber of Commerce in San Francisco will host a reception and dinner on April the 7th in honor of the French Ambassador to the United States, his Excellency Pierre Vimont. As guest speaker, he will share his insights on “French-American Relations – a new Era?”. This is the Ambassador’s first official visit to San Francisco Bay Area since he was appointed by the French President Nicolas Sarkozy in August 2007.

The event will begin at 7pm with a cocktail reception, followed by dinner at 8pm at the Westin St Francis Hotel. Tickets will be $180 per plate for members and $200 per plate for non-members.
You can also reserve a table of 10 at $2200 ($2000 for Members). Table will be reserved with a sign indicating your group/company name. Your name will also be listed as Table Sponsor on the Program.

Opening the reception, his Excellency Pierre Vimont, French Ambassador to the US and the Honorable Judge Quentin Kopp, Chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority of the Government of California (CHSRA), will sign a Cooperation agreement between the French Ministry for Ecology and Sustainable development (MEDAd) and the CHSRA regarding the development of the high speed rail in California.

France and the State of California share the same commitment about sustainable development. As a major sustainable transportation concept, high speed rail is a great opportunity for cooperation, and for many years, France has shown interest to the California project. With regard to the French experience in very high speed rail since 1981 (1150 mile network, 100 million passengers per year), the CHSRA and the French ministry of Ecology and sustainable development decided to develop a long-term cooperation, in order to exchange publicly available information relative to the planning, technical standards, procurement, funding, operation and maintenance of high-speed rail transportation system, and the social and environmental benefits to be derived from the development of rail transportation.

His Excellency Pierre Vimont

Ambassador Pierre Vimont was appointed Ambassador of France to the United States by President Nicolas Sarkozy on August 1, 2007. Prior to his present appointment, Mr. Vimont was chief of staff to the minister of foreign affairs, a position he had held since 2002. He was previously ambassador and permanent representative of France to the European Union from 1999 to 2002.

Pierre Vimont joined the Foreign Service in 1977. He was first posted to London where he was first secretary from 1978 to 1981. He then spent the next four years with the Press and Information Office at the Quai d’Orsay.
From 1985 to 1986 he was seconded to the Institute for East-West Security in New York. Returning to Europe, he served as second counselor with the Permanent Representation of France to the European Communities in Brussels (1986-1990), and was subsequently chief of staff to the minister delegate for European affairs from 1990 to 1993.

He went on to serve as director for development and scientific, technical and educational cooperation and then for cultural, scientific and technical relations. He was deputy director general of the entire Cultural, Scientific and Technical Relations Department from 1996 to 1997 and then director of European Cooperation from 1997 to 1999. Born in 1949, Pierre Vimont holds a degree in law and is a graduate of the Institute of Political Studies and the National School of Administration (ENA).