French Consul Philippe Ardanaz to Speak at AASU

3/21/2008 9:10:00 AM

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French Consul Philippe Ardanaz to Speak at AASU
(SAVANNAH, GA) Philippe Ardanaz, the general consul of France and French trade commissioner, will speak in Savannah on Friday, April 4, at 10 a.m. The talk will be held in the Armstrong Center Ballroom at Armstrong Atlantic State University, 13040 Abercorn Street.

The event is free and open to the public.

Ardanaz, who took his post in Atlanta on September 1, 2007, is expected to focus his talk on the warming French-American relations since the election of French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Ardanaz will also speak about the role that France is expected to play as it holds presidency of the Council of the European Union from July-December 2008.

Congressman Jack Kingston will also speak at the event. AASU President Thomas Z. Jones and AASU French Club President Mourad SÃ©ghir will join in welcoming Ardanaz and Kingston to the campus. SÃ©ghir and other members of the French Club created and organized the event.

"We invited the general consul and Kingston to the campus as an opportunity to inform people about French culture and politics," said SÃ©ghir, a native of France who is finishing one year of study at AASU under the International Student Exchange Program.

Prior to taking the post as general consul, Ardanaz worked for three years as deputy director of budget and finance for the French Foreign Ministry. He also lived in Washington from 1997-2001, working one year with the U.S. Congress as an American political science fellow and later within the French Embassy.

Ardanaz, a native of the Basque region of France, grew up in a Spanish and French bilingual home. Before working in Washington, he spent one year in Cuba and four years in Argentina working for the French Foreign Ministry.

Ardanaz, who started his career at the French Ministry of Economy and Finance, holds a Ph.D. in finance, two master's degrees in management and international affairs and is a former student of the Ãcole Nationale d'Administration, a leading school that trains France's senior officials.

For further information on the event, contact DorothÃ©e Mertz-Weigel at 912.927.5386 or Dorothee.mertz-weigel@armstrong.edu.

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