Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata is the New Minister of Foreign Affairs

No politicians have been included in Mario Monti’s new administration which consists of distinguished academics, financial experts and diplomats. Their task is to implement a package of austerity measures and public spending cuts which were passed by parliament in the last days of Berlusconi’s government. Their task is to rescue Italy.

The newly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs is Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata, who moves from the prestigious role of Ambassador of Italy to the United States in Washington to the top of Farnesina. His Excellency has been called to be part of Mario Monti’s executive administration, succeeding Franco Frattini, Italy's Foreign Minister in the Berlusconi Cabinet. For Terzi, his return to the Farnesina as a minister represents the completion of a long diplomatic career where he has played key roles in some of the major appointments of Italian diplomacy.

Born in Bergamo in 1946, Giulio Terzi di Sant’Agata got into diplomacy in 1973 after having earned a law degree at the University of Milan, specializing in international law.

He assumed his responsibilities as Ambassador of Italy to the United States on Oct. 1, 2009. Before this appointment Terzi’s most recent overseas posting was as Ambassador of Italy to Israel (2002-04). According to The Washington Diplomat, “he previously served as Italy’s permanent representative to the United Nations, where he also headed the Italian Delegation to the Security Council, which Italy had joined as nonpermanent member, for the 2007-08 terms. Security Council reform, Afghanistan, humanitarian intervention and protection of civilians in armed conflicts were among the major issues that Ambassador Terzi focused on during his presence on the council. He had served in New York on a prior occasion, from 1993 to 1998, as first counselor for political affairs and later as minister and deputy permanent representative to the United Nations.


Prior to his latest New York assignment, Ambassador Terzi served in the Foreign Ministry in Rome as deputy secretary-general, director-general for multilateral political affairs and human rights, and political director. During those four years, his responsibilities included major international security and political issues, especially in the framework of the U.N. Security Council, the U.N. General Assembly, and the U.N. Council on Human Rights, as well as the Council of the European Union, NATO, the G-8, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He also advised the Foreign Minister on international security, focusing on the Western Balkans, the Middle East, Afghanistan, East Africa, nuclear proliferation, terrorism and human rights. During his initial two years at the Foreign Affairs Ministry, Ambassador Terzi served as a protocol officer.”


Before then (in 1975), he was posted as First Secretary for Political Affairs at the Italian Embassy in Paris. This was followed by a return to Rome (in 1978) as a special assistant to the secretary-general, and an appointment in Canada to serve as economic and commercial counselor. He served in Canada for almost five years, a period of important growth in economic and high-tech cooperation between Italy and Canada.

Ambassador Terzi then returned to Rome (in 1987) to serve first at the Department for Economic Affairs, focusing on high technology exchange, and later as head of one of the Offices of the Department of Personnel and Human Resources. His following foreign assignment was to NATO in Brussels, where he was political adviser to the Italian Mission to the North Atlantic Council in the immediate aftermath of the Cold War, German reunification, and the first Gulf War.