The Council of Italian Ministers appointed Ambassador Riccardo Guariglia as Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Guariglia will succeed Ambassador Ettore Francesco Sequi as of March, with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani thanking the latter for his many years of service to the State.

A highly experienced diplomat, Ambassador Guariglia is currently Head of the Diplomatic Mission in Madrid.

He began his diplomatic career in 1985 and has served in Cairo, in Brussels (as Consul), at the Permanent Representation to NATO (as Political Advisor) and in Brasilia (as Deputy Head of Mission). He was Principal Director for the Countries of Europe from 2008 to 2011, and was appointed Ambassador in Warsaw in 2011, before taking on the duties of Head of the Diplomatic Protocol of the Republic in 2014. He served as Head of Cabinet from 2018 to 2019.

Born in Chicago in 1961 from a Neapolitan family, he holds a degree in Economics and Business from the University of Rome.