01/10/2021

Deputy Minister Marina Sereni published a post on her personal blog in which she took stock of Italy’s participation in the 76th General Assembly of the United Nations.
But what kind of Italy did we see in New York?
What kind of Italy have “the eyes of others” shown us?

“È sempre un esercizio utile provare a vederci dal punto di osservazione esterno, sia quando questo porta ad evidenziare i nostri punti di debolezza sia quando, come in questo caso, ne emerge un’immagine positiva. Ammirazione, stima, considerazione: man mano che proseguiva la nostra agenda di incontri e riunioni abbiamo sentito ripetersi questi giudizi” scrive Marina Sereni.

“The appreciation for Italy’s commitment to the United Nations is nothing new. […] We are among the most important and stable contributors through both ordinary and extraordinary funds, we are the first country among Western countries to participate in peacekeeping missions, we continuously support the efforts of the United Nations in the main crisis areas. […] Only with an extraordinary effort by each and every one – starting with the strongest and luckiest – will it be possible to deliver a more livable and just planet to future generations.

And this is the spirit that guided the Italian Presidency of the G20 and that the others have grasped. I am not referring only to the member countries of the G20 format, which by participating in the numerous summits were able to directly verify the authority of our presidency, but also to the other countries which have perceived a desire for openness and inclusion and an attention that is not taken for granted to the condition of the poorest and most vulnerable areas of the planet.

In the year of the Italian presidency of the G20 and of the co-presidency of the Cop26, the Farnesina has convened two appointments such as “Meetings with Africa” ​​(7-8 October) and the X Conference Italy Latin America and the Caribbean (October 25-26). Two continents – Africa and Latin America – characterized by great contradictions but also by extraordinary potential, with which our country can and must intensify political dialogue and collaboration to build partnerships, sustainable development projects, opportunities for mutual growth. For both events we received an exceptional number of supporters at the level of Foreign Ministers, a clear sign of a considerable interest in speaking with our country also by virtue of the international role we are playing.

For the purposes of this positive perception, on the other hand, the discussion and the choices that gradually emerged from the Italian Presidency of the G20 were important, from global health to food security and social protection, from the role of women and young people to the conversion of debt and innovative finance for sustainable development. President Draghi has committed Italy in a clear way: increasing to 45 million doses of vaccines to be donated to low-income countries, financing the Covax mechanism with significant resources, increasing and consolidating with the Pre-Food System Summit and the Food Coalition our traditional attention to the issue of food safety, increasing funds for the fight against climate change, also in line with the co-presidency, together with the United Kingdom, of the COP26.