For our fourth Gen A roundtable in 2024, we are sitting down with Anna Mattei, Deputy Head of the Asia Pacific Division and Head of Regional Coordination for Southeast Asia and Pacific at the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.

Join us for this exclusive conversation and bring your own questions to the table! 

Anna Mattei was born and raised in Ticino. After studying Sinology at the University La Sapienza in Rome, gaining work experience in the tourism business, and broadening her knowledge of China with stays in Beijing and Hangzhou, Anna passed the diplomatic exam in 2006.

During her diplomatic training, she stayed ten months at the Swiss Embassy in Beijing and then took over her first assignment in Bern as a Desk Officer for Human Rights in East Asia. She became Deputy Consul General at the Consulate General of Switzerland and Head of the Culture, Media and Education Section in Shanghai from 2012 to 2016. In 2016, she was named Deputy Head of Mission and Head of the Diplomatic Affairs Sections at the Embassy of Switzerland in Saudi Arabia in Riyadh. Then, in 2020, she became Head of Reginal Coordination for Southeast Asia and Pacific in Bern, in addition to Deputy Head of Division Asia Pacific in 2023.

Her career allowed her to build on her deep interest in Asia, as she has been posted in Beijing, Berne, Shanghai and Riyadh, covering Asian and Middle Eastern affairs. Her interests cover arts and culture, civil rights and social action, economic empowerment, education, human rights, politics, science and technology. She is also a member of the Association of Women Diplomats (DIP). She speaks, reads and writes English, Chinese, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

Resources and Preparation Material

• South East Asia Strategy 2023-2026, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, 2023. (Pages 1-27). English. German. French. Italian. 
• "What is the South China Sea dispute?", BBC, 2023, July 7.
• "South China Sea: India sends warships as ‘subtle reminder’ to Beijing", Maria Siow, South China Morning Post, 2024, May 20.
• The Art of Not Being Governed. An Anarchist History of Upland Southeast Asia, James Scott, 2009. (Chapter 1: Hills, Valleys, and States An Introduction to Zomia).

Additional:

• Switzerland's International Cooperation Strategy 2021-2024, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, 2020. English. German. French. Italian. 
• China Strategy 2021-2024, Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA, 2021. English. German. French. Italian.