Amb. Giovanni Castellaneta is the Secretary General of the Adriatic and Ionian Initiative, he was appointed to such position by the AII Ministers of Foreign Affairs gathered in the Adriatic and Ionian Council in Ioannina (11 May 2017) under the Hellenic Chairmanship.
Amb. Castellaneta has been reappointed for a further three years mandate until May 2023  by the AII Ministers of Foreign Affairs gathered in the Adriatic and Ionian Council in Belgrade (27 May 2020) under the Serbian Chairmanship
Amb. Castellaneta has been Ambassador of Italy to the United States of America, to Australia and to Iran. From 2001 until 2005 he was Foreign Policy Advisor to the Prime Ministers Giuliano Amato and subsequently to Silvio Berlusconi, as well as their Personal Representative for the G8 and G20 Summits. During Mr. Castellaneta’s diplomatic career, he held many economic, political and social positions both at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and abroad, especially in the Italian Embassies in Somalia, Francia, Portugal and in the United Nations Offices in Genève.
In Rome, he also served as Foreign Policy Advisor to the Treasury Minister and then Spokesman of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Director of the Office for International Activities of the Italian Regions, Head of the Office of the Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Government Coordinator for the Reconstruction Program in Albania.