Mario Giro (born 29 July 1958, in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

) is an Italian trade-unionist, and since 1990 a mediator for peace in the

Community of Sant'Egidio The Community of Sant'Egidio () is a lay Catholic association dedicated to social service, founded in 1968 under the leadership of Andrea Riccardi. The group grew and in 1973 was given a home at the former Carmelite monastery and church of ...

Biography

Born in

on 29 July 1958, he earned his degree in mathematics and in 1984 graduated in to Sapienza. In 1975 he became a member of the Community of Sant’Egidio and participated in the activities of school support for the poor children of the Roman periphery and since 1979 he became responsible for adolescent and young people of Sant'Egidio in different neighborhoods of the Roman periphery. In the mid -1980s, he began to engage in interreligious dialogue, especially with the Muslim world, and participated in the organization of international annual prayer encounters for peace. Since 1989 he has been working in Africa for the development of the community of Sant'Egidio,

Côte d'Ivoire Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest city and ...

and

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

. In 1996 he attended preliminary meetings in Rome to resolve the crisis in

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

. In 1996 participates in Rome in the pact negotiations for the future of

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

. In

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

, he helped implement the agreement of 1 September 1996 between Serbian President Milosevic and Kosovar leader Rugova, who guaranteed access to Kosovar Albanian schools in 1997–1998. Since 1998 he has been responsible for the international relations of the community of Sant'Egidio. In 2006 he participated in several missions as a

mediator Mediation is a structured, voluntary process for resolving disputes, facilitated by a neutral third party known as the mediator. It is a structured, interactive process where an independent third party, the mediator, assists disputing parties ...

South Sudan South Sudan (), officially the Republic of South Sudan, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered on the north by Sudan; on the east by Ethiopia; on the south by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and Kenya; and on the ...

. In 2012, he was adviser to the Minister for International Cooperation and Integration Andrea Riccardi.

Political activity

At the 2013 political elections he was nominated for the Senate of the Republic, in

Campania Campania is an administrative Regions of Italy, region of Italy located in Southern Italy; most of it is in the south-western portion of the Italian Peninsula (with the Tyrrhenian Sea to its west), but it also includes the small Phlegraean Islan ...

, in the center list with Monti

For Italy For Italy (, PI) was the name of two centrist and mainly Christian-democratic parliamentary groups active in each house of the Italian Parliament: the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. The groups were launched on 12 December 2013, following a s ...

(third position), but he is the first of the non-elected. On 2 May 2013, he was appointed Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs. As undersecretary, he has exercised delegations on

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

and the promotion of

Italian language Italian (, , or , ) is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. It evolved from the colloquial Latin of the Roman Empire. Italian is the least divergent language from Latin, together with Sardinian language, Sardinian. It is ...

and culture; also organized the VI Latin American Conference in December 2012. In December 2013, he left Civic Choice to join the Popular

and on 28 February 2014 he was confirmed as Foreign Undersecretary to the Renzi government; on 4 July 2014, the Popular Forces leave Italy to join Solidarity Democracy. In 2014 he is among the promoters of the first general terms of the Italian language in the world, held in October of the same year in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

and from that moment repeated on a two-yearly basis. On 29 January 2016, the occasion of the government reshuffle, he became deputy minister of foreign affairs, leaving the former position as undersecretary. Charge confirmed 12 December 2016 also from the subsequent government led by

Paolo Gentiloni Paolo Gentiloni Silveri (; born 22 November 1954) is an Italian politician who was European Commissioner for Economy in the von der Leyen Commission from 1 December 2019 to 30 November 2024. He had previously served as prime minister of Italy ...

. He was awarded, on 5 November 2010, the

Fondation Chirac The Fondation Chirac was launched by former French President Jacques Chirac, after having served two terms in office between 1995 and 2007. Since 2008, this foundation strives for peace through five advocacy programmes: * conflict prevention * ...

Prize for Conflict Prevention.

References

External links

Mario Giro, laureate of the Fondation Chirac Prize for Conflict Prevention

A Discussion with Mario Giro, Director for International Affairs, Community of Sant’Egidio. Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs

Community of Sant'Egidio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Giro, Mario 1958 births 20th-century Italian politicians Civic Choice politicians Populars for Italy politicians 21st-century Italian politicians Italian trade unionists Living people Solidary Democracy politicians