Mr President, Mr Secretary General, fellow delegates, ladies and gentlemen,
we are living in very complex times, and the common nature of the challenges of our era is forcing us to reason in a completely new way.
The wound inflicted on the rules-based international system by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is having destabilising effects far beyond the borders within which it is unfolding, with the domino effect of contributing to reigniting other hotbeds of crisis or even causing them to explode.
Democratic political systems are facing unprecedented threats. Geoeconomic fragmentation is growing and we must all deal with its consequences, the most fragile nations especially.
The path to reducing environmental emissions is at a crossroads, caught between ideological approaches and scarce solidarity, especially among the major greenhouse gas emitters.
The scarcity of water and energy is having an increasingly profound impact on development, food security and the social stability of entire communities.
The instrumental use of religious faith has become a source of tension or, worse, of persecution: millions of people throughout the world suffer due to their profession of faith, and topping the list of victims are Christians.
We are witnessing the groundbreaking advent of generative artificial intelligence, a revolution that raises entirely new questions, although I am not so sure we should call it intelligence: intelligence is about asking questions, not answering them through data processing. In any case, unlike all the other innovations we’ve seen over the course of history, this technology sets a blueprint for a world in which progress no longer optimises human skills, but can actually replace them, with consequences that risk being dramatic in the labour market especially, with wealth becoming even more verticalised and concentrated. It is no coincidence that Italy made this issue a top priority of its G7 Presidency, because we want to do our part in defining a global governance for artificial intelligence that is able to balance innovation, rights, labour, intellectual property, freedom of expression and democracy.
This complexity, compounded by deeply interconnected challenges, tells us above all one thing: the problems of the so-called Global South are also the problems of the Global North, and vice versa. Homogenous blocks no longer exist, and it is a fact that our destinies are interdependent. Hence why we are being called to think outside the box compared with the past.
The challenge is a decisive paradigm shift in relations between nations and in terms of how multilateral bodies work. The goal is to build a completely new model of cooperation.
I am personally convinced that this new model can and must be based on a number of principles, which are unfortunately not a given: mutual respect, concreteness and collaboration. This means having relationships with each other as equals, regaining our ability to listen to others in order to understand their reasoning, which is the basis for any form of mutual trust.
It is precisely because we believe in this approach that Italy has organised all events under its G7 Presidency this year with an open format, with a very broad outreach involving all continents, the G20, the African Union, economic and financial institutions and multilateral development banks. We have shown that the G7 is not a closed fortress wanting to defend itself from others, but rather embodies values open to the world.
I am also thinking of the turning point Italy has marked in its relations with Africa in particular. We have made our investment plan for Africa, the ‘Mattei Plan’, operational at bilateral level, with pilot projects in nine of the continent’s nations, creating strategic partnerships with each of them. We have structured operational synergies with the European Union’s Global Gateway and the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.
We have built new financial instruments with the African Development Bank and World Bank to allow public and private resources to flow. We have devised innovative solutions such as the Apulia Food Security Initiative, to boost agricultural production and food security, and the Energy for Growth in Africa initiative, to support the production and distribution of clean energy. We have also decided to support strategic projects for Africa, such as the Lobito Corridor.
We have done all this without ever ceasing to involve and discuss with our African partners, because it is not our intention to impose, but to share and choose together the priorities and areas for action where we can be an added value, and that is where we have therefore offered our perspective and cooperation, with concrete projects that are already yielding results. In Algeria, we will turn 36 thousand hectares of desert into fertile ground for agriculture, building a local production and processing chain. In Kenya, we are developing a biofuel value chain to arrive by the end of 2025, supporting up to 200 thousand small agricultural enterprises. In Ethiopia, there is the extensive environmental clean-up work in the Lake Boye area, in the west of the country.
I would like to reiterate this once again: in the face of tens of thousands of people undertaking desperate journeys to enter Europe illegally, our goal is to guarantee above all their right not to have to emigrate, not to have to sever their roots simply because they have no other choice.
Increasingly powerful and widespread unscrupulous criminal organisations exploit their desperation for profit. A year ago, standing at this very podium, I proposed declaring a global war against human traffickers, and I am pleased that my appeal did not fall on deaf ears. First of all, an agreement has been reached at G7 level to establish international coordination to dismantle these criminal networks. More, however, must be done, the United Nations must do more, because these criminal organisations are bringing back slavery in different forms – slavery in the sense of commercialising human beings – which in the past this Assembly played a crucial role in definitively eradicating. We are not going back.
It is possible to defeat these slave traders of the third millennium, and we can do so if we join forces, with greater cooperation and joint initiatives between our police forces, intelligence services and judicial authorities, adopting the ‘follow the money’ approach. This was an intuition of two great Italian judges, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, which went on to become a model for combatting criminal organisations also at international level.
Italy intends to use this method to strengthen its cooperation also with Latin American nations, because there is a common denominator between the organisations profiting from human trafficking in Africa and those running drug trafficking in Latin America or the abomination of kidnapping children to turn them into sex slaves for rich men without conscience, depriving them of their present and their future.
As is unfortunately the case in several regions around the world, in Latin America the legitimate aspirations for freedom and democracy of tens of millions of people still remain unfulfilled. I am thinking of the Venezuelan people in particular, to whom we extend all our solidarity and support. The international community cannot stand by and watch as, almost two months on from the elections on 28 July, the election result has still not been recognised and in the meantime there has been brutal repression: dozens of protestors have died, thousands of political opponents have been arbitrarily arrested and the presidential candidate of the democratic opposition has been incriminated and exiled. It is our duty to speak out.
Dear friends, in 2025 we will celebrate the 80th anniversary of the UN Charter, which enshrines the principles and values that have now been called into question by none other than a permanent member of the Security Council. Italy, however, does not intend to back down in defending that charter, because those principles and values are there as a guarantee for us all, especially for nations that are less equipped to defend themselves. As always, the law must be the same for everyone, and this is above all needed to defend the most vulnerable.
This is why we cannot turn a blind eye to Ukraine’s right to defend its borders, its sovereignty and its freedom, as indeed we affirm the State of Israel’s right to defend itself against external attacks, like the awful one on 7th October last year. However, at the same time, we call for Israel to respect international law, protecting the civilian population, the majority of whom are also victims of Hamas and its destructive choices.
Following the same line of reasoning, we of course also support the right of the Palestinian people to have their own state. However, in order for this to happen soon, the Palestinians need to entrust it to a leadership inspired by dialogue, stabilisation of the Middle East and autonomy.
The Abraham Agreements have proven that it is possible to fruitfully co-exist and cooperate on the basis of mutual recognition. If this is the prospect we all have to work on, as indeed it is, then it is now imperative to reach a ceasefire in Gaza and the immediate release of Israeli hostages without further delay. We can no longer witness tragedies like the ones we have seen over the last few days in the south and east of Lebanon, involving defenceless citizens, many of whom children.
Next year’s anniversary provides us all with a historic opportunity: to finally grasp that, whether we like it or not, today’s problems involve and regard us all.
We must be able to question ourselves, with humility and awareness. This also requires a serious reflection on multilateralism and the ability of international organisations to handle the challenges this era is placing before us. I am of course also talking about the United Nations and its ability to reform, starting from what is useful and necessary and not from what is easier.
Italy firmly believes that any reform regarding the operational architecture of the United Nations, starting with the Security Council, cannot disregard the principles of equality, democracy and representativeness. It would be a mistake to create new hierarchies, with new permanent seats. We are open to discuss the reform without prejudice, but we want a reform that serves to represent everyone better, not to represent better only a few.
Colleagues, delegates, ladies and gentlemen, we have been called to govern our nations in difficult times. It seems that everything around us is changing, everything is being called into question, and the few certainties we thought we had are no longer so. Fate is challenging us, but in the end it is doing so to put us to the test. In the storm, we can prove we are up to the task that history has given us, prove it to the citizens we govern over, prove it to our children and prove it to ourselves, perhaps above all to ourselves, because as a great Italian patriot, Carlo Pisacane, a leading figure in the Risorgimento that united Italy as a nation, said, “I shall find all rewards in the depths of my conscience”.
It is our duty to tackle problems rather than postpone them, to move forward rather than backward, and to favour what is right over what is useful; a difficult task but a necessary one.
Italy, as always, is ready to do its part.
Thank you.
[Courtesy translation]
