Ambassador Filippo Formica holds a degree in International Law from the University of Rome and a degree in European Community Law from the College of Europe of Bruges. He joined the Italian Foreign Service in 1980. He served at the Permanent Mission to the United Nations in Geneva, the Embassy in Dakar, the Embassy in Washington D.C. and the Permanent Representation to the European Union in Brussels. Among his assignments, he worked in the Office of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as in the Office of the Diplomatic Counselor of the President of the Republic. He also served as Director of the Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Department of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2003 to 2007, and as Deputy Director General for Political Affairs from 2007 to 2012. International Organizations, Middle East, security matters and issues of arms control, disarmament and non-proliferation have been Ambassador Formica’s major focus areas. He took part in many international negotiations in the EU, UN, G8 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). He was chairman of the Global Disarmament and Arms Control Working Group and the Non-Proliferation Working Group during the Italian Presidency of the European Union in 2003. In 2009, under the Italian Presidency of the G8, Mr Formica chaired the Non-Proliferation Directors Group. Appointed by the Prime Minister as Sherpa for the Nuclear Security Summit, he attended the Washington Summit in 2010, the Seoul Summit in 2012 and the Hague Summit in 2014. From June 2012 to November 2016, he was Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Italy to the International Organizations in Vienna, chairing the IAEA Board of Governors in September 2012 and the 59 IAEA General Conference in September 2015. Since 14 November 2016, he has been Ambassador of Italy to Estonia.