Former French Ambassador to China (2011-2014), [first woman to hold the post of French Ambassador to a country which is a permanent member of the Security Council]  to the United Kingdom (2014-2017) and to Russia (2017-2019). 

Earlier career: 

Sylvie Bermann joined the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1979. She was appointed vice consul at the French Consulate general in Hong Kong ,1979-1980,  Second Secretary at the French Embassy in China 1980-1982, China desk officer at the French ministry of Foreign affairs 1982-1986, First secretary then second counselor at the French Embassy in USSR 1986-1989, Head of the South -East Asia division at the French ministry of foreign affairs ( organization of the Paris conference on Cambodia), Second Counsellor at the French Permanent Mission to the UN 1992-1996, Head of the Common Foreign and Security Policy Department at the French Foreign Ministry 1996-2002, Ambassador to the Western European Union and to the European Union’s Political and Security Committee in Brussels 2002-2005, Head of the French Foreign Ministry’s directorate for the UN and international organizations, human rights and Francophony 2005 - 2011. July 2021- February 2022 coordinator of the OSCE in the trilateral contact group for the implementation of the Minsk agreements.  

Present  

Chair of the board of trustees of IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale), Paris, since January 2020.  Member of the board of Institut d’études politiques d’Aix en Provence, Member of the board of Institut Jacques Delors “Notre Europe”  

 Honours 

Sylvie Bermann is a commander of the National Order of Merit and a commander of the National Order of the Légion d'Honneur. Elevated to the dignity of Ambassadrice de France in 2019.  

Publications: 

In French : 

- La Chine en eaux profondes. Stock 2017 

- Goodbye Britannia. Stock 2021 

- Madame l’ambassadeur. Tallandier 2022 

- L’ours et le dragon. Russie-Chine : Histoire d’une amitié sans limites ?, Tallandier, 2025. 

In English:  

- Au revoir Britannia. Luath 2022