Giandomenico Picco

Giandomenico Picco works for Business & Conflict and "specializes in providing risk solutions to companies mainly operating in the greater Middle East region. For 20 years, he was an official of the United Nations, heading the task force that brought about the end of the Iran-Iraq conflict and participating on the team that negotiated the withdrawal of Soviet forces from Afghanistan. In the late eighties and early nineties, he led the UN operation on the ground that freed the Western hostages in Beirut [ Lebanon ].

"In 1999, Mr. Picco was appointed Personal Representative of the United Nations Secretary General (at the level of Under-Secretary General) for the UN Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations (2001). Since 2001 he has been a member of the UN Secretariat Policy Working Group on the UN and Terrorism. In April 2003 he was appointed Advisor to the UN Secretary General. He is President of “Non-Governmental Peace Strategies Project,” Geneva, Switzerland, a non-profit institute aimed at devising new vehicles for the private sector to support peace efforts.

"Mr. Picco holds a graduate degree in political science from the University of Padua, Italy, a Master of Arts in International Relations and Comparative Politics from the University of California, Santa Barbara and a Diploma in European Integration Studies from the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He attended the University of Prague (then Czechoslovakia) and has received several Honorary Degrees.“


 * Director, American Iranian Council
 * Director, International Peace Academy
 * Advisory Council, Centre for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence