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The Director General for Development Cooperation

Ministro Plenipotenziario Stefano Gatti

Minister Plenipotentiary, Stefano Gatti.

Stefano Gatti graduated in Political Science with honours on 15 July 1988 from the Sapienza University of Rome; he became a diplomat in 1990.

From 1990 to 1994, he served at the Directorate for Cultural Relations at the Special Secretariat of the Minister, and then at the Minister’s Office and at the Institutional Press and Communication Service.

From 1994 to 1998, he was assigned as First Secretary at the Italian Embassy in New Delhi.

From 1998 to 2001, he was assigned to the Permanent Representation of Italy to NATO, where he served as Advisor for peacekeeping operations, civil emergencies and the press.

From 2001 to 2006, he served at the Italian Government Presidency of the Council of Ministers as Diplomatic Advisor and Head of the International Affairs Office of the Minister for Innovation and Technology as well as Head of the E-Government Mission Unit for Development of the Italian Government Presidency of the Council of Ministers.

From 2006 to 2009, he was assigned as First Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Italy to the United Nations, where he served as Italy’s representative in the Security Council Committee on Child Soldiers and in the UN General Assembly Committee dealing with social and human rights issues. He was responsible for the preparation, presentation and discussion of the Resolution for a Moratorium on the Death Penalty at the UN General Assembly promoted by Italy in 2007 and approved for the first time in the history of the United Nations in December 2007.

From 2009 to 2015, he was Director for International Affairs of the EXPO 2015 SPA Company and subsequently held the position of Director General of Participants and Director of the Italian Pavilion. In this capacity, he was in charge of the various phases of planning, preparation, and construction of the Pavilions, achieving the highest number of Self-Built Pavilions in the history of Universal Expositions, and of the overall management of the Italian Pavilion, Cardo and Tree of Life, approximately 1/6 of the entire Expo site.

From 2015 to 2017, as Director of Italian and International Participants, he followed the liquidation of the public company set up by the Italian Government for the organisation of Expo 2015, overseeing the proper dismantling of 85 Pavilions of Countries and International Participants.

On 26 March 2018, he became Ambassador to Australia.

He rejoined the Ministry in March 2019, reporting directly to the Director General for Development Cooperation.

On 6 December 2021, he was appointed Special Envoy of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Food Security. In this capacity, he co-chaired the Steering Committee for the organisation of the 2021 Food System Summit and the 2023 Food System Summit + 2, both hosted within FAO, and organised the Mediterranean Ministerial Dialogues on the Food Security Crisis. He also chaired the national dialogue table on food security.

Since 2 January 2024, he has been Director General for Development Cooperation.