Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Today I am very pleased to welcome to GEI the President of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, On. Laura Boldrini.
GEI is very honored that in recent past months it has awarded the most important Italian officials: the President of the Republic, Hon. Giorgio Napolitano; the President of the Senate, On. Pietro Grasso; and now the President of the Chamber of Deputies, On. Laura Boldrini.
Born in Macerata, Laura Boldrini obtained a degree in Law at La Sapienza University in Rome.
From 1983 to 1986, she worked as a journalist, and subsequently for the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and then, from 1993 to 1998, for the World Food Programme (WFP) as spokesperson for Italy.
From 1998 to 2013 she served as spokesperson of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees for Southern Europe.
In this period, she carried out several missions to crisis areas, including the former Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, among several others.
She has received numerous awards and honors, including the “Cavaliere” in the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (in 2004), and the recognition “Italian Woman of the Year” by the weekly magazine Famiglia Cristiana (in 2009).
In February 2013 she was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, and then in March was elected President of the Chamber. The activities of On. Boldrini, as president of the Chamber, are very well known and have been largely covered by the press, so it will not be necessary to elaborate on them.
Therefore, I am very pleased to present President Boldrini, on behalf of GEI, with the “GEI FRIENDSHIP AWARD” in recognition of her many achievements.