EU Delegation to Mongolia Honours Adrien Mourgues with 20 Years of Service Medal

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia — Her Excellency Ambassador Ina Marciulionyte, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Mongolia, has presented Adrien Mourgues with the European Union's 20 Years of Service Medal, in recognition of two decades of loyal service to the EU across its Delegations in Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea, and Mongolia.

Adrien began his EU career on 1 September 2005 at the Delegation of the European Commission to Vanuatu, where he served until the Delegation closed - over twenty years later. He subsequently served in Papua New Guinea before joining the EU Delegation to Mongolia in February 2022, bringing with him over three decades of experience in the South Pacific.

20 Years of Service Medal

Across his career, Adrien has championed development partnerships spanning a wide range of sectors - from education and TVET to public works, budget support, WaSH, and trade. But it is rural development, he says, that is "a sector close to my heart." He is particularly proud of the STREIT project, an integrated rural development initiative still active in Papua New Guinea's Greater Sepik region, focusing on cocoa, vanilla, and fisheries value chains - "a very large project looking at addressing all hurdles that agripreneurs and fisherfolks are facing to engage in a virtuous circle of development." Still following the project's progress from afar, Adrien notes with satisfaction that "definite progress has been achieved."

In Mongolia, that same commitment continues through initiatives including the EU's Forest Partnership, supporting efforts to combat pasture degradation and protect the country's nomadic herding traditions - "the symbol of Mongolia," as Adrien puts it.

"To reach this milestone I can only thank all my colleagues for the engaged discussions we had along the years, my counterparts in Governments, the experts that joined the discussions, and the Ambassadors and higher management that ultimately decided to engage," said Adrien. "I am not forgetting of course my family that accepted to follow me around the World."

Ambassador Ina Marciulionyte presented the medal on behalf of the European Union in recognition of Adrien's professionalism, dedication, and lasting contribution to the EU's development mission across three countries and multiple postings spanning the Pacific and Mongolia.

20 Year Service Medal