95 years ago today, April 9, 1930 (March 11, 1930 in the lunar calendar), former Director-General of the WTO, Renato Ruggiero, was born. Ruggiero was born in Naples on April 9, 1930. He received a doctorate in law in 1953 and became a diplomat at the age of 25. He worked in the Italian embassies in Sao Paulo, Moscow, Washington and Belgrade. He has been working for the European Commission since 1969 and has served as the Commission's Regional Policy Director, Spokesperson, and Director of the Press Office. In 1978, he was transferred back to the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and served as European Policy Coordinator. In the 1980s, he became Italy's chief permanent representative to the European Community. In 1984, he returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs again to be responsible for economic affairs, and the following year became Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1987, he became Minister of Foreign Trade and remained in office in subsequent governments until 1991. From June 1991 to November 1993, he served as a member of the board of directors of Fiat and served as executive vice president of Fiat. After leaving the company, he attended Harvard University in the United States. Ruggiero used to be a master designer of European regional integration in the EU trade bloc, but he supported multilateral trade and opposed protectionist obstacles to free trade. He was one of the advocates of replacing the GATT with a strong global organization. Renato Ruggiero, former Italian Minister of Foreign Trade, took office as Director-General of the World Trade Organization on May 1, 1995 for a four-year term.