Good afternoon everyone,

my thanks to Minister Musumeci and The European House-Ambrosetti for organising the ‘Risorsa Mare’ forum once again this year, providing an extremely valuable opportunity for analysis and discussion between the public and the private sector on the development and growth prospects that the sea can offer our nation. For Italy is a unique nation, being both continental and maritime at the same time.

Our head forms part of Mitteleuropa while our feet bathe in the Mediterranean Sea, making us a natural bridge between the north and south of Europe as well as between Europe as a whole, Africa and the Middle East. 
We are a natural platform in the Mediterranean, a sea that has been the heart of the world’s cultural and trade exchanges for thousands of years and has now regained its key role as an area connecting the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific, through the Persian Gulf and the Suez Canal.

This is a huge advantage, of which we have not always been aware; we must be able to leverage it to the fullest. It provides an opportunity with regard to energy, for example, as we can become a strategic hub for energy flows between the Mediterranean, Africa and Europe. 

The Government is articulating this ambition also through the Mattei Plan, with energy being one of its pillars. The Mattei Plan aims to implement strategic connection projects, from the ELMED electricity interconnection between Italy and Tunisia to the H2 South Corridor for transporting hydrogen from North Africa to Europe.

It also represents an opportunity in terms of interconnections. I am referring to the development of IMEC, the infrastructure and economic corridor between Europe, the Middle East and India, which Italy helped to establish at G20 level and which can unleash enormous potential for our businesses and trade.

Our maritime economy already gives us great satisfaction: in 2022, it contributed EUR 180 billion to GDP. However, we can do better and better if we join forces and work in a strategic way, as indeed the Government intends to through its ‘Sea Plan’, which it has specifically drawn up. 

It is a geopolitical opportunity too because, if it is true that the Mediterranean has regained its central importance in the world and we have a central position in the Mediterranean, then Italy has an extraordinary potential: to go back to playing an absolutely key and leading role in global dynamics.

This is also the case with regard to exploring the race to the underwater world, a new domain in which Italy intends to be at the forefront. We have already established a national hub dedicated to the undersea environment and the Council of Ministers will soon be discussing a draft law to provide regulations and governance in this field.

When I arrived at Palazzo Chigi, I was told that the President of the Council of Minister’s office was known as “Italy’s prow”.

I was very struck by this, and it made me reflect on just how deeply our history and identity are linked to the sea, and to what the sea represents. 

I therefore believe it is all about taking that history and identity and ensuring they can navigate the future, charting the new courses of the 21st century. 

This is what the Government is working on, and I would like to thank you for this initiative’s contribution.

Thank you, and I wish you all the best with your work.

 
[Courtesy translation]