adminFanuel Kangondo Deputy Lifestyle Editor
What is a diplomat and what are the characteristics that epitomise the person that assumes an ambassadorial role in such a manner that people can single you out as a tactician that brings results through active interaction?
Does it have anything to do with events, where you were born and more importantly your family background to join the diplomatic service? Just how does one make a breakthrough in this “exclusive” club of civil servants whose mandate globally is to tactfully deal with others and more often resort to turning on their charm offensive and be always likeable characters?
Answers will come within a short time of chatting to Enrico De Agostini, the Italian Ambassador to Zimbabwe whose charismatic flair urges you on and on as he relates his culinary skills, musical talents, writing skills, fly-fishing and numerous other talents you would not have thought a diplomat indulges in. Short of calling him an amazing character, Ambassador Agostini is certainly in a league of his own.
He always wanted to be diplomat and dropped out of law school in the second year to pursue his dream.
“My mother wanted me to have financial security, so when it came to choosing what to study, I did the sensible thing and chose law. She wanted me to be a notary. Notaries are very wealthy in Italy; they deal with successions, property rights, the registration of companies etc. After two years at university, however, I realised it was not for me. I loved travelling, foreign languages and, of course, foreign girls.
“A friend of mine who was also studying law said that we could try to enter the diplomatic service. I told him that you must be mad! Everybody knows that you don’t get in unless you have connections in the right places! Three years later, without connections but with many long hours of studying behind us, we both succeeded. It was in 1991. He is our ambassador to Eritrea and I am here.”
To date, beside Zimbabwe, Ambassador Agostini (49) has served Italy in Abu Dhabi, Ghana, Germany, Mozambique and South Africa. He is very passionate about his mandate and spares no effort in promoting his home’s brand.
“I belong to the category of people who work to live and don’t live to work, so I have lots of other activities which I do when I am not in the office. For example, you know that I love cooking. Together with Meikles Hotel I have set up a series of dinners at La Fontaine Restaurant, called the Four Seasons, where I cook, we talk about Italian food and culture, listen to good music.
“I love fly-fishing. I have been doing it since I was a kid and this is possibly the activity I love best . . . well possibly the second best. Zimbabwe is blessed with some fantastic rivers and I am privileged to have been made a member of the Nyanga Fly-fishing club. Whenever I have time, I like to write.”
He has published a book entitled “Diplomat: Who the hell is this guy?” that explains what it means to carry such a title at a time when it is now fashionable to call anybody from footballers to actresses ambassador of something or another. The diplomat has also done fictional pieces.
Ambassador Agostini is particularly proficient with the guitar and singing and recently played with ZimboIta a Zimbabwean/Italian band at a local joint in Harare. The band has been making waves locally and in Italy. Asked about his passion for music, the diplomat unabashedly admits that the hot Latin blood was at work; he says he wanted to attract girls (in his early days) and realised that music was a universal language cutting across all cultural barriers.
Married to Susie, a former diplomat from Scotland the couple has a six-year old son, Gios, who also shares his father’s love for fly-fishing.
Another highlight of the musical collaboration between Zimbabwe and Italy manifests in October each year when bands from Italy converge in Harare for the Musica festival. Ambassador Agostini said he was working on a recording featuring local musician Oliver Mtukudzi through his Pakare Paye Arts Centre in Norton.
The ambassador who was clad in a slim fit designer black suit, white shirt and tie eulogised the rich Italian artistic heritage that his country shared worldwide saying that it was not by chance that Milan was one of the fashion capitals. “Tradition translates into quality,” he said.
Despite the existence of European Union sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe over the years, Italy has maintained its presence in the country and continues to make efforts to strengthen the ties between the two countries.
“Italy has always been close to Zimbabwe since its liberation struggle and Italians have always been here, with their hospitals, with their doctors and nurses, to help the Zimbabwean people. Some of them lost their lives for that. In Mutoko, Chinhoyi, Harare and in other areas of Zimbabwe our volunteers are still making a difference.
“We have always supported a sustainable and inclusive growth of the Zimbabwean economy but business is up to the entrepreneurs. Zimbabwe has a huge potential and the sectors that need investments coincide with Italy’s strengths. Look at agriculture, our enterprises are world leaders in agricultural machinery, from pumps to tractors, from packaging to processing plants; look at the tourism sector, look at infrastructure rehabilitation, roads, railways, dams – Italy has a long history of making them and making them well.
“I am sure Italian enterprises are very keen to come to Zimbabwe and show what they are capable of. They just need to perceive that the business environment is favourable. Once that point is reached, they will be more than ready to engage.”
Ambassador Agostini said Zimbabwean companies would be represented at the International Exposition of Milan, Expo 2015 between May 1 and October 31 next year and will be able to exhibit their products and services at the showcase that attracts over 20 million visitors from around the world over the six months.
Online Reporter