OREANDA-NEWS. July 23, 2013. Philippe Guidez, Deputy Chairman of the Supervisory Board in charge of the development of Credit Agricole’s business in Ukraine, has been awarded France’s Knight of the National Order of Agricultural Merit by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of France.

The award has been presented personally by the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the French Republic to Ukraine Mr. Alain Remy.

As Mr. Ambassador mentioned in his speech, in the course of his career as a banker Philippe Guidez devoted a lot of time to agricultural sector, working on the agreements of French exporters and grain exporters in particular.

In Ukraine Mr. Guidez made his contribution to agriculture by tuning up the activity of CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK that has since become a leader in lending to agriculture.

The National Order of Agricultural Merit was established on July 07, 1883 by Jules Mйline, the Minister of Agriculture of France, as the highest honor awarded to people who made a significant contribution and facilitated agricultural development in France.  

One of the first Knights of the Order was Louis Pasteur. The award may be bestowed upon persons who attained 30 years of age, exercise their civil rights and have at least 15 years of actual experience and achievements in the area of agriculture, in the state agricultural entities or in the branches of science related thereto.