Claude de Kemoularia
Claude de Kemoularia (b. March 30, 1922, Paris – d. November 4, 2016, Paris), French political and public figure, who also had careers in the fields of banking and diplomacy, Doctor of Political and Economic Sciences. He was the son of a political emigrant, member of the government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, Joseph de Kemoularia (1880–1957). He graduated from the Faculty of Law of the Sorbonne University and the Paris Higher School of Political Sciences. Kemoularia was awarded the diplomatic rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary (1982), in 1982–1984 he was the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to the Netherlands. In 1957–1980 and in 1984–1987 he served at the United Nations. He was Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, Head of the Secretariat and Personal Representative, Director of the Information Service in Geneva, permanent representative of France to the UN. He was advisor to French President François Mitterrand in the field of foreign economic relations (1981–1982), president of one of the largest French banks, “Paribas” (1988–1998). Kemoularia was elected Senior Member of the Board of Directors of the International Bank of Oman, President of the France-Qatari and France-Oman Business Clubs, Member of the Board of Directors of the Franco-Arab Chamber of Commerce. In the same period, he was elected an honorary member of the French Association of the United Nations and the International Council of the “Mouvement Europeen”. In 1987-1996, he was a member of the board of directors of the Nina Ricci firm, one of the outstanding stars of French fashion.
From 2002, Kemoularia was one of the founders of the international political association “Club of Monaco”, from 2005 — its president, director of the Institute for Political Studies of Mediterranean Issues at the club, in 2006 — one of the organizers and key speaker of the World Political Forum — “Political Architecture of the New World”.
Kemoularia published significant works in the field of political science and economics. He is included in the prestigious French encyclopedic publication “Who's Who in France”. He was awarded 2 orders of the “Legion of Honor”, the French Order of Merit and other state awards. In 1988, he was awarded the title of Officer of the “Legion of Honor”.
In 2010, at the presentation of his book in Tbilisi, Kemoularia said: “...as long as I am alive, I will do everything to protect Georgia's interests in Europe... Be proud that you are Georgians... I believe that Georgia will join the European Union and take its rightful place in Europe”.
Literary work: ცხოვრება გაშლილი ფრთებით. მემუარები, ფრანგულიდან თარგმნეს: პრინცესა ვერონიკა მიურატმა, შ. ჭაბაშვილმა, მ. გობეჩიამ, თბ., 2010.
Literature: კობიაშვილი ნ., პარიზი. კლოდ დე კემულარია (შორეული – ახლობელი), თბ., 2010; ურუშაძე ლ., კლოდ კემულარია – საფრანგეთში მოღვაწე ქართველი, «ფუძე», 2007, №2; The Journal of Modern African Studies, 1993, გვ. 31, №4.
L. Urushadze
