Phil Chetwynd was appointed AFP's Paris-based Global Editor-in-Chief in October 2012. He is responsible for the output of some 1,500 text, photo and video journalists and plays a major role in driving the agency's evolving multimedia strategy around the world.

He 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 countries including Afghanistan, Pakistan, North Korea, Israel and the United States in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Chetwynd was also AFP's Deputy Bureau Chief in China for two years. Between 2002 and 2012, he was based in Hong Kong as first News Editor and then Chief Editor for the Asia-Pacific region where he gained widespread experience managing major global stories such as the 2004 and 2011 tsunamis, the conflict in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and the rise of China.

He set up AFP's first multimedia integrated newsroom in Hong Kong and played a major role in launching the video service in Asia.