CEO & Founder

Roman, 54 years old, Marco Carnelos spent twenty-five years in the Italian foreing service. He has been assigned to war zones (Somalia in 1994 as chargè d’affaires and Iraq 2015-2017 as Ambassador) in Australia and at the Italian Mission at the United Nations in New York York. He worked on the staff of three italian Prime Ministers.

He was mainly engaged on the Middle East, Terrorism, relations with Russia and business promotion. During the Prodi Government he personally oversaw complex dossiers such as the conflict in Lebanon in 2006 and the subsequent mediation (UNIFIL II Mission); in the Berlusconi’s one he was the point man on Libya dossier, in particular in the negotiations for the Treaty of Friendship between Italy and Libya signed in 2008. Between 2012 and 2015, he served as Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process and the Syrian Crisis during one of the most sensitive and tense moments in the region’s recent history. He ended his career as Ambassador to Iraq.

At the end of 2018, he set up his own consulting firm, MC Geopolicy Ltd, with the aim of making his professional experience and knowledge available to institutions and businesses.
He is a board member of the Italian Institute of International Political Studies in Milan (ISPI), of the Institute of Global Studies in Rome (IGS) and an honorary member of the Mediterranean Institute for Asia and Africa in Rome (ISMAA).

His analyses were published in the newspaper La Stampa, in the geopolitical magazine Limes and by Valdai Discussion Club think tank and Italian Diplomacy websites. He is a columnist on Middle Eastern Affairs for Middle East Eye web-magazine. He released interviews and comments to the BBC, RAI, the Swiss-Italian Radio Television and the China Global TV Network.