BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION: ACHILLE AMERIO, NEW

UNCLAS ROME 000384 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O.12958: N/A TAGS: PINR PREL SY IT SUBJECT: BIOGRAPHIC INFORMATION: ACHILLE AMERIO, NEW ITALIAN AMBASSADOR TO SYRIA ¶1. Sensitive but unclassified; not for internet distribution. ¶2. (U) Italy?s new Ambassador in Damascus, Achille Amerio, reached post at the beginning of March, replacing Francesco Cerulli, who retired. Since 2004, Amerio was Diplomatic Adviser to two consecutive Defense Ministers, Antonio Martino (center-right) and Arturo Parisi (center- left). He holds the personal rank of Minister. ¶3. (U) Amerio joined the Foreign Service in 1974. After an initial assignment in the MFA Personnel Bureau, he was transferred to Lausanne in 1976 as First Vice Consul, and Bucharest in 1980 as First Secretary. In 1983, he returned to the MFA in the staff of the Director General for Political Affairs. In 1986, he became Deputy Chief of Mission in Ankara and, in 1991, First Counselor for Migration in Paris. ¶4. (U) From 1994 to 1995, Amerio served as MFA Deputy Spokesman. From 1995 to 1996, he was Special Adviser to the MFA Director General for Political Affairs, and from 1996 to 1998, his Chief of Staff. He was Deputy Chief of Mission in Moscow from 1998 to 2002, and Deputy Permanent Representative to NATO from 2002 to 2004. ¶5. (U) Amerio was born in Glasgow on November 29, 1948. He is married to Oretta Cagiano de Azevedo and has four children -- two girls and two boys. He enjoys tennis and windsurfing. He speaks English with a native proficiency, having spent much of his youth in Australia. ¶6. (SBU) For the past three years, Amerio has been one of Embassy Rome?s very best contacts, including on some of our most difficult issues. Spogli