Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Today I am very pleased to welcome back to New York and to GEI Ambassador Sebastiano Cardi, the new Permanent Representative of Italy to the U.N. Ambassador Cardi is an old friend and it is also a very good friend of GEI.

Born in Rome, he received a degree in Political Science from the University of Rome in July 1980.

 He then joined the Foreign Service in 1981, with a leave of absence to fulfill his military service obligations as Second-Lieutenant, Cavalry.

In October 1984, he was appointed First Secretary at the Embassy of Italy in Beijing and then Deputy Consul at the Consulate General in Paris. 

 In January 1991, he was appointed to the General Secretariat of the Ministry in Rome.

Ambassador Cardi attended an advanced training course at the Diplomatic Institute from December 1992 to December 1993.

In July 1994, Ambassador Cardi came to New York as Counsellor to the Permanent Mission of Italy to the U.N., where he served as a political officer and Mission spokesperson. He was also a member, from 1995 to 1996, of the Italian delegation to the U.N. Security Council during Italy’s term as a non-permanent member.

In November 2001, he became Diplomatic Adviser to the President of the Italian Senate.

Promoted to the rank of Minister Plenipotentiary in 2004, Ambassador Cardi served at the General Directorate for Multilateral Political Affairs and Human Rights at the Ministry in Rome. 

In August 2006, he came back to the US as Special Envoy of the Foreign Minister for the Reform of the U.N. Security Council. And then, in May 2007, he went to the Italian Embassy in Washington as Deputy Chief of Mission. In 2008 he was awarded the decoration of Commander of the Order of Merit of the Republic.

Back in Rome in 2010, he was appointed Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry. In July 2013, Ambassador Cardi was appointed to the present position of Permanent Representative of Italy to the U.N..

Therefore, I am very pleased to welcome back an old, dear friend and present Ambassador Cardi, on behalf of GEI, with the “GEI FRIENDSHIP AWARD” in recognition of his many achievements in a long and outstanding diplomatic career in Italy and abroad.

Photo Gallery:

The luncheon was held on November 20, 2013 in the Stella Private Room of Le Cirque restaurant in New York City.