Italy's regional affairs minister Vincenzo Amendola on Tuesday welcomed the appointment of former agriculture minister Maurizio Martina as the Rome-based United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation's second-in-command.
"Very happy about Maurizio Martina's new job as deputy director-general at FAO. He'll certainly put his experience to good use and will be a reference point for Italy," Amendola tweeted.
In a Facebook post, Martina said he would be taking up his new job "in the next few days" and would step down as a member of Italy's lower house of parliament for the centre-left Democratic Party.
The post thanked FAO director-general Qu Dongyu "for his trust".
"I will continue to represent our country but in a different way," Martina's post added.
