Starting today, the website of the Italian Embassy in Ottawa is enriched with a new tool. Our virtual assistant (“chatbot”) is now active. The “chatbot” simulates a chat conversation with the users and, through a predetermined path of questions and answers, will be able to guide them to the information they need. The “chatbot” will be able to answer a wide range of questions, particularly regarding consular services and visas.
The application was launched on February 8th in Rome by the Secretary General of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Riccardo Guariglia, and will then be activated on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and on the websites of Italian diplomatic-consular offices, including the Italian Embassy in Ottawa.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not only involved in foreign policy in the narrow sense. We provide a very wide range of services to users both at the Farnesina and in the more than 200 Italian diplomatic-consular offices around the world,” said Amb. Guariglia, who tested the application firsthand and recalled that “MAECI is among the very first Italian Administrations to equip itself with such a tool on a large scale, proving the great attention paid to the issues of digital innovation and the quality of services rendered to users.”
The Director General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy, Alessandro De Pedys, and the Director General for Italians Abroad and Migration Policies, Luigi Maria Vignali, who emphasized the relevance of the tool for improving the quality of services offered to users as well as the Farnesina’s commitment to digital innovation, also attended the event.
