Ambassador of the Philippines to Italy
Mr. Nathaniel “Neal” Imperial is the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of the Philippines to the Italian Republic. He presented his credentials to Italian President Sergio Mattarella on 15 June 2023. He is also the Ambassador of the Philippines to San Marino and the Ambassador-designate to Malta and Albania, and the Permanent Representative of the Philippines to U.N. Agencies (FAO, WFP and IFAD) and intergovernmental organizations (ICCROM and IDLO) based in Rome. Prior to his appointment as the Ambassador, he was the Assistant Secretary of the Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs (2020-2023). Mr. Imperial has an M.A. in Government Specializing in Counter-Terrorism and Homeland Security (Magna Cum Laude) from the Lauder School of Government and Diplomacy at the Inter-Disciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel. He also has an M.A. in International Studies from the University of the Philippines and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University. He joined the foreign service in 1995 and served in various diplomatic and consular positions at foreign service posts in Jakarta, Vancouver and Singapore and was the Philippine Ambassador to the State of Israel from 2014 to 2020. At the Department of Foreign Affairs, he served as Functional Specialist in the APEC SOM Chair’s Office; Assistant Director in the Office of Policy Planning and Coordination; Director in the Asian and Pacific Affairs Office; and as Executive Director of the Office of Middle East and African Affairs. As an author, Mr. Imperial has published a monograph on ASEAN counter-terrorism cooperation (University of Hong Kong) and two volumes of poetry, the last of which was a finalist in the National Book Award for Poetry and the Madrigal-Gonzales First Book Award in the Philippines. He was conferred the Gawad Mabini, rank of Dakilang Kamanong (Grand Cross), one of the highest honors the Republic of the Philippines can bestow on Filipino diplomats, by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. on 19 July 2023 for his work as Assistant Secretary of the Office of Asian and Pacific Affairs.