Hervé Berville

Speaker at the St. Gallen Symposium

Hervé Berville is a French economist and politician representing the 2nd constituency of the Côtes-d'Armor in the National Assembly of France as a member of the Renaissance (RE) party since 2017. Between July 2022 and September 2024, he served as Secretary of State for the Sea, where he developed and implemented the government's maritime policy across various national and international dimensions, with a particular focus on maritime economy and influence. Prior to his role as Secretary of State for the Sea, Mr Berville served on the National Assembly's Committee on Foreign Affairs and was the vice-chairman of the French Parliamentary Friendship Group for relations with Burundi and Rwanda. In 2018, he authored a significant report for President Emmanuel Macron on the modernization of French foreign aid policy, advocating for a renewed approach to relationships with Africa, Asia, and Latin America based on equal partnerships and active civil society involvement. Before entering politics, Mr Berville worked as an economist for the French Development Agency (AFD) in Mozambique and as a program manager at the Stanford Institute for Innovation in Developing Economies in Kenya. He holds master’s degrees in political economy for development and in economics and finance from the London School of Economics (LSE) and Sciences Po Lille, respectively.