On 15th January Ambassador Giorgio Novello assumed his duties as Ambassador of Italy to Iceland by presenting his credentials to the President of the Republic of Iceland Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson. The ceremony was held at the Presidential Residence at Bessastaðir and was followed by a long and cordial conversation between the President and the new Ambassador on the relations between Italy and Iceland.
During his stay in Iceland Ambassador Novello had meetings with the Permanent Secretary General, the Chief of Protocol and high officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the General Director of the Icelandic Coast Guard, the Rector and Vice Rector of the University of Iceland. The Ambassador had also the occasion to meet the EU colleagues resident in Reykjavik.
Ambassador Novello met representatives of the Italian community and since this was his first visit to Iceland, he took the opportunity to visit the premises of the Italian Honorary Consulate-General headed by Honorary Consul General Petur Björnsson who assisted the Ambassador throughout the entire stay and with whom the Ambassador discussed ways ad means of strengthening the assistance to Italian citizens living in the country. Ambassador Novello paid also a visit to the Iceland Hyperbaric Chamber which has been operating at the National University Hospital in Reykjavik for over twenty years thanks to an Icelandic-Italian cooperation project.
In his meetings with Icelandic counterparts Ambassador Novello has stressed the close relations existing between Italy and Iceland in the political, economic and cultural sectors and the importance of the valuable contribution made in this respect by the Italian community. Ambassador Novello also highlighted Italy’s strong and increasing interest in the Arctic culminated with the admission of Italy as permanent observer country to the Arctic Council in May last year.
Bessastaðir
