Catalog Title

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Social and Cultural Events ….……………… page 02

Political Highlights…………………………… page 09

Business and Finance Highlights …….……... page 11

www.ambwashingtondc.esteri.it Volume Two | Issue Three July-September 2007

US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, arrives at the Embassy of Italy. She is greeted by Ambassador and Mrs. Castellaneta and escorted into the

building

edited and designed by Silvia Limoncini, Simona Massobrio, Federica Casale and Sonia Vacchini

The Ambassador of Italy to the United States, Giovanni Castellaneta, welcomed to the Embassy a group of graduates from Bocconi University of Milan and from New York University (thirty students from the Milanese University and ten from the New York University), who traveled to Washington as part of Campus Abroad pro-gram. Students were accompanied by Prof. Carlo Secchi, Carlo Altomonte and Dario Barberi from Bocconi and by Prof. Dannis Smith from NYU. The conference, which opened with a greeting from Ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta, was organized in coop-eration with “Alub-Washington”, the local group of Bocconi graduates and was coordinated by Dr. Andrea Can-epari, First Secretary at the Embassy who also moderated the debate. First Counselor Beltrame, First Counselor Ferrari and Dr. Spadafora held presentations and described, from several points of views, macroeconomic and political issues, analyzing them from the perspective of bilateral re-lations between Italy and United States.

Bocconi University in Washington, Conference at the Embassy of Italy

July, 12 2007

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In the Photo from the Left: Prof. Dannis Smith, H.E. Ambassador Castellaneta, Prof. Carlo Secchi, First Secretary Andrea Can-epari, First Counselor Stefano Beltrame,

Colonel Carlo Villanacci, Prof. Carlo Alto-monte, and Prof. Dario Barberi

Ambassador Castellaneta Addressing the Guests

First Counselor Luca Ferrari, Embassy Spokesman, and

First Secretary Andrea Canepari

Wounded Veterans Dinner July, 13 2007

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Once again this year, the Ambassador of Italy and Mrs. Giovanni Castellaneta offered a reception for some of the American veterans who were injured during their tour in Iraq and who are now being treated at various military hospitals in the Washington area. On the evening of Friday, July 13th around thirty American soldiers were welcomed at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, together with their wives and relatives. The dinner of typical Italian dishes and personally prepared by the Ambassador’s Chef, Roberto Grazioli, was accompanied by the singing of Antonio Giuliano. Sgt. 1st Class of the U.S. Army Chorus, "Pershing's Own," who entertained the guests with several famous songs from the Italian opera tradition, transporting them to Italy and helping them forget their daily troubles. The reception was meant as a sign of gratitude and recognition for the soldiers, on the part of our Country. The atmosphere was both touching and light-hearted. In addition to Ambassador Castellaneta, General Zuliani, a few Italian Diplomatic Officials and Paul Wolfowitz, former Deputy Secretary of Defense of President Bush’s administration, took part in the event.

A View of the Guests and the Amazing Italian Buffet

Photos by Joe Gromelski. Used with Permission from Stars and Stripes. 2007 Stars and Stripes

Ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta With One of the

US Army Veterans

Social and Cultural Events

Antonio Giuliano. Sgt. 1st Class of the U.S. Army Chorus,

Singing Among the Guests

Paul Wolfowitz, Former Deputy Secretary of

Defense, While Talking with a US Army Veteran

Ambassador’s Chef, Roberto Grazioli Serving Desserts

to the Guests

Photos by Joe Gromelski. Used with Permission from Stars and Stripes. 2007 Stars and Stripes

Photos by Joe Gromelski. Used with Permission from Stars and Stripes. 2007 Stars and Stripes

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Global Youth Leadership Council

Conference

August 8, 2007

On August 8th the Embassy of Italy in Washington hosted a reception for the Global Youth Leadership Council. The organization’s mission is to foster and inspire young people to achieve their full leadership potential. Through con-ferences and seminars students from around the world have the opportunity to explore global leadership issues with world economic and political leaders in Washington, DC and in New York.

Minister Sebastiano Cardi, the Em-bassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission, wel-comed the group and gave a short speech on some aspects of Italy- U.S. diplomatic relations. Ms. Barbara Harris, Co-founder of the Global Youth Leadership Council, at-tended the event as well, and, after thanking the Embassy for the wonder-ful reception, invited students to col-lect as much information as possible from the experience in order to be ready to face all the challenges they will encounter successfully. The evening concluded with a buffet reception and was accompanied by the showing of videos on Italy in the audi-torium.

Ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta and Mrs. Castellaneta Visit San Diego

August 23, 2007

On August 23, 2007 Ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta visited San Diego, where he met with the Italian-American community. The gathering featured representatives of both the old and the new Italian immigration to San Diego, whose successes make it a very signifi-cant segment of this important corner of the Golden State. The participation of Italian associations was substantial with the presence of the House of Italy, the Italian Community Center, the Italian-American Civic Association, the Order Sons of Italy, Trinacria and Convivio, the Italian Historical Soci-ety of San Diego, which donated a preview copy of the book "San Diego's Little Italy", to Ambas-sador Castellaneta. The book shows a pictorial history of Italian immigration to this Californian city. For the occasion, the Consul General of Italy to Los Angeles, Nicola Faganello, recently ar-rived from Italy, made his first appearance in his new district. The host of the event, the Honorary Vice Consul Designate, Roberto Ruocco, was grateful to Ambassador Castel-laneta for taking the time to pay a visit to San Diego’s Italian community, as well as for the consideration they showed the community in the previous days, in particular with their visit to the House of Italy in Balboa Park, one of the oldest Italian associations in California.

Ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta with Father Luigi Solcia in front of Our Lady of the Rosary Catholic

Ambassador Giovanni Castellaneta with representatives of the

Italian-American Community and the Honorary Vice Consul Designate,

Roberto Ruocco

Ambassador Castellaneta with Italian Consul General Nicola Faganello , Honorary Vice Consul Designate,

Roberto Ruocco, e Presidents of Italian Clubs: from the left Cecchino Masullo (OSIA), James Hill Cardinale

(Italian American Civic Association), e Bernadette Tar-antino (Trinacria)

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Cornerstone Schools 10th Anniversary Gala

September 17, 2007

On September 17th,

2007, the U.S. Secretary of State, T.H. Condoleezza Rice, was the keynote speaker at the Cornerstone Schools’ 10th anniversary celebration which was marked with an event at the Embassy of It-aly. Paul Gigot, the Editorial Page Editor of the Wall Street Journal, performed the du-ties of Master of Ceremo-nies and opened the evening celebration.

His remarks were fol-

lowed by the former Major-ity Leader of the House Representatives, T.H. Dick Armey, for the invocation, and the performance of a few songs by the Corner-stone Schools’ Children Choir. The Ambassador of Italy, H.E. Giovanni Castel-laneta, welcomed the guests and introduced the U.S. Sec-retary of State.

After Secretary Rice’s speech, the rest of the eve-ning included dinner, presen-tations by Cornerstone School board members, and brief remarks by T.H. An-thony Williams, former DC Mayor.

US Secretary of State,

Condoleezza Rice, Greets the

Children

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Among the guests, the Security and Exchange Com-missioner, Paul Atkins, Repre-sentative Dave Camp, Repre-sentative Tom Davis, Repre-sentative Pete Hoekstra, Representative Jack King-ston, Representative Paul Ryan, Representative Marc Souder, and Representative Frank Wolf.

Cornerstone operates two private, academically rig-orous, Christian elementary schools in Washington, D.C. for children from predomi-nantly low-income fami-lies. They educated close to 140 students and both of their campuses are built on the core principles of spiri-tual growth, academic excel-lence, discipline, personal re-sponsibility and community involvement.

The Children Choir

Mrs. Lila Castellaneta with the Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice

A view of the party

Political Highlights

The Mayor of Milan, Letizia Moratti, traveled to Washington from July, 16 to July, 17 2007. On the occasion of her short visit to the Unites States’ capital, she had very significant meetings, among them the most important was the breakfast meeting at the White House with the First Lady, Laura Bush. Their talk was focused on issues of social solidarity, assistance policies for literacy in less developed countries, and cooperation among universi-ties for research in the field of development. Patricia de Stacy Harrison, Chairwoman and CEO of Corporation for Public Broadcasting and former Assistant Secretary of State for Educational and Cultural Affairs, also attended the lunch with the Mayor and the First Lady. Mayor Moratti also took part in a Luncheon held at the United States Congress and organized in her honor by the Italian-American Congressional Caucus. To conclude her visit, Mrs. Moratti had a long and friendly meeting with Hersey Kyota, Ambassador of Palau to the United States, and member of the BIE. Ambassador Kyota will represent his country on the occasion of the vote for EXPO 2015 and the Mayor briefed him regarding Milan’s candidacy.

The Mayor of Milan, T.H. Letizia Moratti, Visits Washington, DC

July, 16-17, 2007

First Lady Laura Bush and Mrs. Lila Castellaneta

The Mayor of Milan, T.H. Letizia Moratti

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Senator Giorgio Benvenuto’s Visit to Washington

September 15-19, 2007

From September 15th to September 19th, the President of the Finance Committee of the Italian Senate, Sen. Giorgio Ben-venuto visited Washington for meetings with several important political and eco-nomic personalities. Among these were, Arrigo Sadun, Italian Executive Director at the IMF, Edward Yingling, President of the American Bankers Association, Thomas Barnett, Chief of the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department, Linda Stiff, Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Kathleen L. Ca-sey, Commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), R. Krozner, Governor of the Federal Re-serve, and US Senators Enzi and Bar-rasso, both of Italian origin.

Senator Giorgio Benvenuto meets Thomas Barnett at the Antitrust Division of the US

Justice Department

In the picture, from the left: Mr. John

Marino from NIAF, the Embassy’s Finan-cial Attaché Francesco Spadafora, the Finance Committee Secretary, Renato Bruschi, First Secretary Massimiliano

Mazzanti, Counselor Stefano Beltrame, the Interpreter Elisabetta Ullmann, Sena-tor Giorgio Benvenuto, and Senator Mike

Enzi from Wyoming.

Senator Giorgio Benvenuto and Ambassador Giovanni

Castellaneta

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Business and Finance Highlights

On July 8th the Boeing Group presented the first B787 Dreamliner in a worldwide media event which provided direct satellite hook ups from the central headquarters in Everett (Washington, USA) to Japan, to the Alenia Aeronautica plant in Grottaglie (Puglia, Italy), and to Global Aeronautica in Charleston (South Carolina), where, Ambassador Castel-laneta took part in the ceremony with the Alenia North America managment. Finmeccanica, through the companies it controls, builds 26% of the airplane, both in the Grottaglie plants in Italy and in the Global Aeronautica (a joint venture between the American company Vought and the Italian Alenia North America) plants in the United States. This is a very important collaboration both from the technological and the economic point of view, and it has very large repercussions in terms of employment and know-how for Italian industry. The Boeing 787 is very innovative also for the materials utilized. The substitution of metal with new compound materials – a sector in which Fin-meccanica has a technological specialization – allows a weight reduction in the airplane and the optimization of kerosene consumption, as well as of the operational radius. The devel-opment of these new carbon fiber materials is the special contribution of the Charleston plants.

CEREMONY OF PRESENTATION OF THE NEW BOEING 787 DREAMLINER

JULY 7, 2007

In the Photo: from the left: Dr. Caiazzo (CEO of Global Aeronautica), Ambassador Castel-laneta, and Dr. Giordo (CEO of Alenia North

America)

Ambassador Castellaneta with the Italian Employees of Alenia North America in

Charleston

Ambassador Castellaneta, and Dr. Giordo (CEO of Alenia North Amer-

ica)

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On July 10th 2007, the Embassy of Italy hosted the an-nual meeting of the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP). COMNAP is constituted by the managers of the polar programs of 29 countries that signed the Antarctic Agreement, (among them: Argentina, Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, India, the Russian Federation, and the U.S.A.). On June 10, 1985 Italy established its National Antarctic Research Program (PNRA) under the aegis of the Ministry of University and Research. Our country has been working in Antarctica since 1985, when, along the Nothern Foothills coast in the Terra Nova Bay, the base “Mario Zucchelli” was built. The base bears the name of the Italian scientist and leader of the Italian Antarctic Program who died in 2003. Moreover, Italy in cooperation with France has re-cently inaugurated the new base called “Concordia”. This base, completed in 2005, is located in the polar plateau at an altitude of 3000 meters, at the same dis-tance from both the French base “Dumont d’Urville” and the base “Mario Zucchelli”. This new advanced base, state-of-the-art for its structure and equipment, has been specifically built with the aim of reducing to a minimum its impact on the delicate polar environment. The COMNAP meeting focused mainly on the logistic and managerial features of ongoing and future re-search. At the same time, the executive board of the SCAR, the committee for the promotion and coordination of research projects in the Antarctic, had a separate meeting. Research carried out by scientists in Antarc-tica covers a broad range of sciences: chemistry, geol-ogy, astronomy, biology, physics and psychology. Envi-ronmental and logistic difficulties, such as the isolation during the long winter, call for a close connection be-tween logistics and scientific research.

XIX Annual meeting of the Council of Managers of National Antarctic Programs (COMNAP).

July, 10 2007

Counselor Stefano Beltrame addressing

the Guests

The cooperation among the scientists in Antarctica in-volves not only the scientific point of view but also manage-ment, logistics and human resources. In particular, the close cooperation between Italy and the USA has been extremely efficient in recent years, enabling Italy to better manage its resources and achieve a faster turn-over for their staff, while offering our expertise in fields such as telemedicine and meteorology. Under these premises of cooperation among all of the COMNAP member countries, a convivial event was held at the Embassy, organized by the Office of the Scientific Atta-ché together with PNRA S.C.r.l. Consortium, whose mem-bers are the Italian organizations: CNR, ENEA, INGV, OGS. Counselor Stefano Beltrame, head of the Economic, Com-mercial and Scientific Affairs Office of the Embassy of Italy welcomed the guests on behalf of the Ambassador and in his speech highlighted the importance of the polar regions, not only as study fields for scientists, but also as some sort of “gymnasium” for International Diplomacy and relations among different countries. Mr. Cucinotta (Chairman of the PNRA Consortium) in his presentation stressed the synergies and partnership be-tween Italy and other countries. Many scientists attended the event, among them Prof. G. Jugie (Chairman of French IPEV and COMNAP), Dott. K. Erb (manager of the National Science Foundation polar programs), Prof. C. Rapley (Chairman of the British Antarc-tic Survey).

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From Left: Prof. Alberto Devoto, Prof Gerald Jugie (Ditrector of COMNAP and IPEV), and Eng. Antonio Cucinotta

Training Seminar for the Directors of Confindustria in the United States

July 11, 2007

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The Ambassador of Italy to the United States, Giovanni Castellaneta, spoke at opening of the training seminar for the Directors of Confindustria.in the United States titled: “The USA lesson: Think Big” which was held at the Embassy of Italy on July 11, 2007. Lead by Daniel Kraus, Director of European Affairs for Confindustria, 70 terri-torial directors analyzed the American scene. Addressing the meeting, Ambassador Castellaneta remarked on the excellent economic relationship between the United States and Italy and noted how it can still be improved. The Embassy intends to inspire a wide ranging reflection on the whole Sistema Paese of Italy and on the way to achieve the highest potential, by building “a bridge for business development from Piazza Italia in Washington to the Piazza Affari of the business world”. Arrigo Sadun, Executive Director for Italy at the International Monetary Fund (FMI) and Giovanni Majnoni D’Intignano, Executive Director for Italy at the World Bank also joined the seminar.

Ambassador Castellaneta Addresses the Guests

A View of the Speakers

A View of the Auditorium

Italy-USA Joint Technical Committee Meeting

July, 12 2007

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On July 12th 2007, the first meeting of the Italy-USA Joint Technical Committee was held at the Department of Energy in Washington DC. The objective of the meeting was to analyze future collabora-tion in the field of new technologies for the production of energy. The Joint Technical Committee represents a follow-up on the meeting between Pierluigi Bersani, Italian Minister for Economic Development and Samuel W. Bodman, US Secretary of Energy at the US Department of Energy last February. The Italian Delegation, coordinated by Prof. Giorgio Einaudi, Scien-tific Attaché in the Economic, Commercial and Scientific Affairs Office of the Embassy of Italy, was composed by Ivo Tripputi (engineer), Paolo Garibaldi (engineer) and Dr. Luigi Pari. The United States was represented by the directors of the Fossil Energy Office, the Energy Efficiency Office and the Renewable En-ergy Office. The American side was also represented by the Department of Agriculture (USDA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of the Interior (DoI) and the National Science Foundation (NSF). Italy participated with representatives of the Ministry of Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture Policies and the Ministry of University and Research as well.

Italy-USA Joint Technical

Committee Group

Professor Einaudi, Scientific Attaché at the Embassy with Victor Reis, Senior Advisor to

the US Secretary of Energy

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On September 5th 2007 the Italian Representative for Intellectual Prop-erty, Prof. Mauro Masi, visited Wash-ington for institutional meetings re-garding the problems of counterfeiting and plagiarism.

Prof. Masi attended meetings with rep-resentatives of the US Department of Commerce, the FBI, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Italian Representative for Intellectual Property, Prof. Mauro Masi,

Visits Washington, DC

September 5, 2007

Prof. Mauro Masi with His Excellency Amb. Giovanni

Castellaneta

Prof. Mauro Masi with the USTR’s Deputy Assistant, Mr. Donnely

Prof. Mauro Masi at the MPAA’s Headquarters

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"Selex Sistemi Integrati" Seminar on High Technology Integrated Systems for Homeland Security Applications

September 5, 2007

On September 5th, the Embassy of Italy in Washington, D.C. hosted a workshop, or-ganized by "Selex Sistemi Integrati", on “Homeland Security Integration Systems” which concluded with a reception. Among those attending the event, was the Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, Mr. Michael Jackson. The seminar presented an opportunity for the introduction of the Finmeccanica grou f i r m ' s l a t e s t h i g h t e c h n o l -ogy integrated system for air, land, and sea monitoring to various representatives of the US defense and homeland security indus-tries. Some of the systems presented are already being used by Italian Civil Protection, Coast Guard, and Police.

Marina Grossi, CEO of “Selex Sistemi Integrati”

Admiral Pollastrini, Commander of the Italian

“Guardia Costiera”

Ambassador Castellaneta Addresses

the Seminar

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From the Left: Col. Carlo

Villanacci, Expert from the Italian “Guardia di Finanza”, H.E. Am-bassador Castellaneta, and First Counselor for Economic Affairs,

Stefano Beltrame

From the Right Mrs.

Lila Castellaneta with the Assistant Secretary of the Department of

Homeland Security, Ma-risa Lino

Some of the Workshop

Participants

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From the left: Professor Alberto Devoto, Scientific Attache'

at the Embassy, Paula Dobriansky, Undersecretary of State

for Democracy and Global Affairs, Professor Valeria Ter-

mini, Minister Plenipotentiary Guido La Tella, Yvo De Boer,

Secretary of UNFCCC.

President George W. Bush Addressing the

From the left: Professor Valeria Termini with US Secretary of

State, Condoleezza Rice, and Embassy Deputy Chief of

Mission, Sebastiano Cardi

The “Major Economies Meeting on Energy Se-curity and Climate Change” took place in Wa-shington on Settembre 27th and 28th, 2007. The meeting brought together the world’s 18 major economic poker as well as the United Nations and the European Commission. The participants for the United States included the President of the United States, George Bush, the US Secretary of the Treasury, Henry M. Paulson, and US Secretary of State, Condo-leezza Rice. The Italian delegations was headed by Profes-sor Valeria Termini, personal Representative of Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi.

“Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change”

Washington, September 27-28, 2007