British journalist Phil Chetwynd has become the first foreign national to be appointed global news Director of Agence France-Presse.

Currently AFP's editor-in-chief, Chetwynd take over from Michèle Léridon, who was the first woman to lead AFP's news department.

Chetwynd joined AFP in 1996 after three years in British regional newspapers and has since been posted in the Middle East, Europe and Asia. He reported as a special correspondent from some 20 and was also AFP's deputy bureau chief in China.

Between 2002 and 2012, he was based in Hong Kong first as news editor and then chief editor for the Asia-Pacific region where he helped set up AFP's first multimedia integrated newsroom and played a major role in launching the video service in Asia.

Since 2012 he has been based in Paris as editor-in-chief overseeing the day-to-day output of the Agency's global network of journalists. He has played a key role in the multimedia transformation of the agency, creating chief editor teams to bring text, photo, video and social media journalist teams together.

AFP has also separately announced the appointment of Sophie Huet global editor-in-chief, taking over from Chetwynd. Jean-Luc Bardet succeeds Huet as deputy news director, but will retain his current role as France director.

Huet is a journalist of 34 years' experience and a graduate of the Marseille School of Journalism, having begun her career at the Central Press Agency before joining AFP in 1991.