Good evening everyone,
as the first day of the G7 Leaders’ Summit under the Italian Presidency comes to an end, I would like to take this opportunity to share some important updates with you. Four working sessions were held today. The first was dedicated to Africa, the second to the crisis in the Middle East, and the following two were on Ukraine, the first of which was also attended by President Zelensky. As you saw, in addition to these sessions, there was also a side event focusing on the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment, which is among the major projects launched within the G7 to support the development and growth of the most fragile nations, particularly in Africa and Asia. I want to say that I am very satisfied with the discussions, and I am very satisfied with the results we have achieved today, starting of course with the support for Ukraine.

841 days have passed since Russia began its war of aggression against Ukraine. Over this long period, Ukrainians’ heroic resistance has prevented Putin from fulfilling his plan, and the West’s compactness and unity of intent have provided this nation under attack with the help it needs to defend its freedom. The G7 has clearly reiterated this commitment and I can confirm that we have reached a political agreement to provide Ukraine with approximately 50 billion dollars in additional financial support by the end of the year, thanks to a mechanism of loans that can be paid back using the extra profits from Russian assets that are frozen in our jurisdictions. We are of course not talking about confiscating these assets, but rather the interest maturing on them over time. As you can well understand, today’s was a crucial political step that must now be quickly defined from a technical point of view, taking into account the framework of reference already adopted at European Union level. This result, however, was not a given, and I am particularly proud of it.

As we were saying, we also talked about the conflict in the Middle East and on this point I confirm unanimous support for the mediation proposal by the United States for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all hostages, as well as for a significant increase in humanitarian assistance to the civilian population in Gaza. The G7 has reiterated every effort to avert an escalation in the region, and to reach a lasting political solution to the crisis, with the prospect of the two-state solution for the two populations. As you are well aware by now, the Italian Presidency places particular importance on Africa and we specifically focused on this today, as indeed we will continue to do tomorrow during both the opening session in the morning on migration and the session which will also be attended by the Outreach nations.

I have received broad support from my colleagues, with strong consensus for the Mattei Plan for Africa, for Italy’s approach, which is based on peer-to-peer cooperation with African nations. This approach is now yielding results, with the first pilot projects getting underway. In this case, the step change regards our will to create dialogue between the various instruments we have implemented over the years at both national and multilateral level, with the Mattei Plan on the one hand and the strategic initiatives of the G7 and European Union on the other - the PGII and the Global Gateway -, so we can pool together the various measures and advance them in a more coordinated way. Italy has also announced that it intends to contribute to one of the PGII’s strategic projects: the so-called ‘Lobito Corridor’, which is a major infrastructure system aiming to connect Angola and Zambia through the Democratic Republic of the Congo, thereby linking regional markets and global markets. I am also pleased to announce that new financial instruments will be established at the African Development Bank, whom I wish to thank for their very valuable cooperation, in order to develop co-investment strategies in the areas covered by the Mattei Plan. There is also a framework agreement with World Bank, which also aims to facilitate our investments in the continent. I also wish to thank the United Arab Emirates for guaranteeing an initial contribution to the multi-donor fund. You saw the side event on the PGII, which was also attended by the private sector and multilateral development banks, and this initiative reflects our desire to follow up on our commitments with concrete actions. We don’t just want documents to come out of this G7, we want concrete facts to result too, delivering on those commitments. 
You have just watched this extraordinary display by the parachutists of the Italian Army’s ‘Folgore’ Brigade, and I would like to sincerely thank them once again. It really wasn’t easy; the wind has dropped a little now, but when they jumped with their parachutes, just imagine the weight of the parachute together with such a large flag – that level of precision was by no means a given, and I really think we’ve made a great impression thanks to them, so my thanks to them once again. As you know, the day will come to a close with an official dinner at the castle of Brindisi hosted by the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, whom I also wish to thank in advance.

Another important day lies ahead tomorrow and, with a touch of pride, I would call it a historic day. Tomorrow we will welcome the Holy Father and, as I have said on several occasions, this will be the first time a Pontiff attends a G7 summit. I am truly proud that this is happening for the first time under the Italian Presidency. Tomorrow we will be talking about artificial intelligence, the Indo-Pacific, economic security and how to have supply chains that are closer and more resilient to shocks. As we were saying, we will be talking about Africa and the Mediterranean again too. Tomorrow evening we will approve the conclusions of the Summit, which the Leaders already agree upon. So, I thought it would be useful to summarise the main points at the end of this first day, and we will of course see each other again tomorrow and above all during the press conference on Saturday. Thank you all, have a nice evening and I hope everything has been ok for you.

[Courtesy translation]