The École Supérieure des Affaires was established in 1996. The idea behind creating an important business school in Beirut came from, and was promoted—in particular towards the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry—by Fayek Abillama, who was also the President of the Alumni Association at HEC, Lebanon. At the same time, Jean-Pierre Lafon, former French Ambassador to Lebanon, convinced of the necessity of increasing Franco-Lebanese cooperation in matters of education, adopted the idea of creating a Business School to address the needs of the business community. In May 1995, he approached the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry to set his plan in motion, in close collaboration with The Central Bank of Lebanon and its Governor, Riad Salame. A partnership was thereafter established between the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, The Central Bank of Lebanon, and the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry. ESA was established on 5 April 1996, in the presence of French President Jacques Chirac and Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, through an intergovernmental agreement signed between France and Lebanon, and an institutional agreement signed between The Central Bank of Lebanon and the Paris Chamber of Commerce and Industry.