Ambassador Marco Sermoneta is the Consul General of Israel to the Pacific Northwest, based in San Francisco. A career diplomat since 1993, he will be building partnerships and coalitions of support for Israel with the people and governments of Northern California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. He plans to focus on strengthening relations in the areas of innovation and technology, trade, agriculture, tourism, sustainability and the environment, and culture. He looks forward to working together with the active Jewish communities, businesses, and Israeli entrepreneurs in San Francisco, Seattle and Portland. A native Italian and fluent Spanish speaker, he intends to work closely with the Italian American and Hispanic American communities. He is eager to work with the Americans of Asian descent, including the Japanese and Indian communities, based on his diplomatic experiences.
Marco served as Israel’s Ambassador to Colombia and strengthened the political and trade relations significantly with the first ever visit of an Israeli Prime Minister to the country, and with the ratification of the Free Trade Agreement during his tenure. This set the framework for commerce and economic cooperation which has flourished until today. Throughout Marco’s tenure there was increased cooperation on technology, innovation, development, and defense issues.
As Ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Jamaica, he was instrumental in strengthening relations in a number of areas including agriculture, development, and defense. Israel was one of the first countries to respond to the devastating earthquake of Haiti in 2010, providing immediate humanitarian assistance and long-term trauma-care knowledge. Additionally, he served as Deputy Ambassador to Japan helping represent Israel as the Indo-Pacific Region became more of a focus for Israeli foreign policy.
He was the Head of the European Multilateral Organizations desk in the European Division of the Foreign Ministry, which included NATO, OSCE and others. He played an important role in the Papal Visit of John Paul II to Israel in 2000. Previously he served as the Political Counselor of the Israeli Mission to the United Nations focusing on social affairs, human rights, economics, and sustainability. He helped Israel gain a more appropriate representation on various UN Committees and staff, and helped many Israeli NGOs obtain UN recognition and accreditation. At the start of his career, he was a Deputy Chief of Mission in both Mumbai and Dublin.
Born in Rome, Marco’s family was active in the Roman Jewish Community, who trace their origins to the Second Temple period 2,000 years ago. He immigrated to Israel as a child on the day before the Yom Kippur War started in 1973 growing up in Lod, a city with various economic and social challenges. For him, being accepted as a Cadet in the Israeli Foreign Ministry, and representing Israel, is a personal and professional dream.
Before joining the Foreign Ministry, he was assistant to the night editor of the Jerusalem Post, wrote articles for the paper, and worked in a bookstore. Besides international diplomacy, Marco has been writing and publishing poetry for the past 20 years. He also translates Italian and English poetry into Hebrew. He received a BA in English Linguistics and International Relations from Hebrew University and served in a field intelligence unit in the IDF. He enjoys Italian cooking and music, and is hoping to expand his vinyl record collection during his time in San Francisco.
We talk about:
How can a Silicon Valley company get in contact with investors from Israel?
How can the Israel consulate help companies here and abroad?
How has the technology that has been developed in Israel spilll over to other countries into other parts of the world or has it?
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