Clemente Contestabile is the Consul General of Italy in Hong Kong since 15 August 2018.

Born in Campobasso on 8 June 1976, he completed a Master’s degree in Political Science International Relations at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” in 2000. He joined the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) in December 2001 and worked in the Department for Asia and Oceania and in the Secretariat-General of the MFA. Between 2006 and 2010 he was posted to the Embassy of Italy in Beijing, first as Head of the Consular Chancery and then as Deputy Head of the Commercial Office. In New York from 2010 to 2014, he served with the Permanent Mission of Italy at the United Nations, dealing with development, environment and financial affairs and taking part in negotiations of the U.N. General Assembly, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), and their subsidiary bodies. He was also chief of staff to the Permanent Representative.

From 2014 he worked in the Department for Human Resources, Budget and Innovation of the MFA in Rome, as Head of the Department’s Secretariat. He’s married with two children.

A native of Naples, Italy, Gioia Morena Gatti graduated with a Degree in Economics- International Trade and Masters in Public Economy and Administrative Law.

After collecting internship experiences in France and UK, her first job in Rome at American Express was focused on the acquisition campaign of new customers through the collaboration of the banking institutions.

Her career at ITA/Italian Trade Commission began in 2001 in Bologna, where she served for two years promoting the Food and Wine products from Emilia Romagna Region and working in international trade shows and promotional activities in major equipment-manufacturing sectors.

In the following years she worked in the Headquarter in Rome, in the Italian Trade Commission’s President staff and then on a special project for financing feasibility studies in foreign countries, promoted from the Ministry for the Foreign trade.

From 2006 to 2015 she was in charge of Food and Beverage projects all over the world, mostly trade shows, workshops, incoming trips to Italy and supporting Italian companies in exporting their product and meeting international buyers/importers. From 2013 to 2015 she was also appointed as Subject Expert in Public Accountancy at the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University Roma 3 in Rome, participating to teaching activity of the chair. In 2015 she was appointed Head of the Food and Beverage Sector of ITA/Italian Trade Commission in New York, in charge of the whole US market, where she served until October 2020.

Since November 2020 she has been the Director for ITA/Italian Trade Commission in Hong Kong.

Laurent Franciosi is a civil engineer with 18 years of international experience in the commercial and institutional fields.

Before the recent employment in Cassa Depositi e Prestiti as Head of the International Business Affairs, he was Chief Commercial in ANAS International (the subsidiary firm of the Italian Road State Corporate) where he achieved important goals in terms of setup of motorway concessions and large consultancy contracts.

Previously he worked 10 years in Italferr (the engineering company of the Italian State Railway Corporate) as Area Manager for North Africa and Balkans, where he was in charge of commercial and operational management of various projects financed by European Union and Multilateral Banks.

He acquired an important experience in business development in extra EU countries (focused on roads & railway projects) based on economic, financial and legal tools, often implemented in partnership with international financial institutions and counting on the support of diplomatic bodies.

Born in Rome (Italy), he graduated in Law and became Lawyer on 1997. He attended Post-graduate course in Community Law at the Board of the Bar Association of Rome. He has been Head of EU Project and Technical Assistance Programmes at Europrogetti & Finanza S.p.A. (leading Italian company dealing with EU and National Programmes to support central and local authorities and economic development in Italy) from 1996 to 2003. He served as Senior Expert in the EU Structural Funds Managing Authority at the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance (Department for Cohesion Policy) from 2003 to 2006 and was appointed as Italian Resident Counsellor within the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Bulgaria from 2006 to 2009 dealing with European Structural Funds during the Bulgarian EU accession.

Since 2009 he works at Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) - the National Promotional Institution, acting also as the Italian Development Finance Institution - dealing with International and European Affairs. From July 2013 to July 2017, he was the Head of CDP Office in Brussels and he served as Permanent Representative of CDP to the European Union Institutions. From 2017 he works as Senior Advisor at the CDP International Affairs Department and has been recently appointed as CDP Business Matching Platform Coordinator.