Ambassador Raffaele Trombetta: G7/G20 Sherpa to the Prime Minister

Born in 1960 in Naples, Ambassador Raffaele Trombetta has been in the Foreign Service for over thirty years. He is now the Italian Sherpa in charge of the preparatory process for the Summit of the G7 Heads of State and of Government. He will oversee the negotiations for the drafting of the 2017 final communiqué.

After graduating in Political Science from the University of Naples and getting a Master’s in European Studies at the London School of Economics, Amb. Trombetta joined Italy’s diplomatic corp in 1985. His first foreign assignments were in Bogotá as First Secretary of the Delegation and then in London, as Consul.

In 1995 he returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was promoted first Chief of the Secretariat of the Directorate General for Economic Affairs and then Counselor to the Legation in the Cabinet of the then-Foreign Affairs Minister Susanna Agnelli.

In 1998 he began working as Counselor to the Permanent Mission of Italy to the European Union and in 2002 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Mission in Beijing. Upon promotion to the rank of Plenipotentiary Minister, he returned to Italy as Deputy Director General for Asia, Oceania, the Pacific and Antarctica and then as Deputy Director General for the European Union and Central Director for European Integration.

In January 2013, he was appointed Italian Ambassador to Brazil and also took over in Paramaribo (Suriname). He was the Chief of Cabinet during Foreign Affairs Minister Paolo Gentiloni’s tenure and, in January 2017, was appointed Personal Representative and Sherpa of the President of the Council of Ministers for the G7 and the G20.