Expert in customs, trade and transport policy and regulation, Danilo is an attorney specializing in
customs and international trade law with about 20 years of experience in assisting clients and providing advisory services to government agencies and business associations both in the EU and the United States. Former expert at the Italian Ministry of Trade – where he served as a member of the National Trade Facilitation Committee – and policy adviser for 17 years to the President of the Italian Association of Customs Brokers, Danilo established in 2019 Desiderio Consultants Ltd., a consultancy firm headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, which provides technical assistance to governments and regional organizations, mainly in Africa, in the implementation of customs, trade and transport reforms. In August 2024 he became senior associate at the Kenya Office of the Horn Economic and Social Policy Institute (HESPI), of a regional think-tank headquartered in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that provides high quality economic and social policy research for institutional, policy and regulatory reforms.

Danilo is author of 6 books on customs-related topics and international trade, as well as of more than 100 articles and papers published in academic journals, magazines and newspapers in Italy, Australia, United States, South Korea and Poland. Over the years, Danilo has been working in Africa and Asia to projects with many international organizations and multilateral banks such as the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the African Development Bank, the European Commission, USAID, GIZ, Expertise France, covering from time to time the roles of trade and transport facilitation expert, transport and transit facilitation expert, customs expert, customs policy expert, customs reforms expert, rules of origin expert, trade expert, coordinated border management expert, One Stop Border Posts legislation specialist and Team Leader.

Danilo currently serves as senior customs and trade expert at the World Bank and advises the Horn
of Africa Initiative (HoAI) on activities and projects related to the advancement of its trade and
regional integration pillar.