Good afternoon everyone.

I am very pleased to welcome the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Keir Starmer, to Rome for the first time.

I believe this visit confirms our extremely solid partnership, considering that the governments of our two nations have been working side by side for a long time now to seek long-term structured solutions to the numerous major challenges of our era.

We are aware of the fact that two nations such as Italy and Great Britain represent two key pillars of the transatlantic community, hence why they are called upon to play a leading role on the international stage, and that is obviously what we intend to do.

Strengthening our strategic relationship can be decisive to address the many issues on the international agenda, to guarantee security, to guarantee prosperity for our peoples.

This is the spirit with which we have adopted today’s joint declaration, a document I consider to be extremely important, all the more so as its content is very concrete and reflects the breadth and depth of our relationship and the extent of the ambition we have set ourselves.

When Prime Minister Starmer and I met in London in July, in the margins of the European Political Community meeting, we decided to focus our attention and desire to further strengthen our cooperation on a number of points. I am of course thinking of our continuous dialogue and cooperation regarding foreign policy and defence policy, given the crucial contribution both our nations have made, and continue to make, to safeguarding peace and stability. However, I am also thinking about energy, which is another key part of Italy’s, and not only Italy’s, strategic policy, as well as science and innovation. I am thinking of the extremely close ties between our societies, security, the fight against crime and, of course, the issue of governing migration flows and countering mass illegal immigration.

We discussed this issue at length this morning. Every week, thousands of migrants cross the Mediterranean to reach Italy and enter Europe illegally. Many of them also cross the Channel to get to the United Kingdom. This is clearly a phenomenon affecting the whole of Europe. Prime Minister Starmer and I agree on the fact that the first thing to do is step up the fight against human trafficking and do so by combining our efforts much more, working on greater security cooperation, cooperation between our police forces, intelligence services and judicial authorities, targeting the heart of this trafficking.

Two great anti-Mafia judges, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, said to “follow the money” if you want to hit at the heart of criminal organisations. Italy and the United Kingdom have already shared this approach at G7 level, having decided, as you know, to form an international coalition against human traffickers with the aim of pooling all our efforts in order to fight these organisations that profit from people’s desperation.

We both believe it is crucial to continue maximising collaboration between European and global partners, as indeed we agree on the fact that organisations such as Interpol and Europol also need to be used more and in a better way for this purpose, and this is one of the matters we are discussing in order to understand how we can better pool together these instruments at our disposal in the fight against organised crime.

As you know, the second goal the Italian government has been pursuing since day one is to address the root causes of migration in order to guarantee the right not to have to migrate, also with a new and completely different focus towards the African continent. As you are aware, this goal requires an ability to offer a new and different cooperation model with the nations of origin and nations of transit of the migration flows, also involving them on the migration front.

Among other things, we want to keep building on the already fruitful cooperation that Italy and the United Kingdom have launched as part of the Rome Process by implementing concrete measures, also with regard to assisted voluntary returns, which is one of the concrete measures we are already working on together and want to implement.

We also agree on the fact that we should not be afraid to explore new solutions. We talked about the agreement between Italy and Albania, which is a solution the UK government is paying a lot of attention to. We have of course offered all elements to better understand this mechanism, which is one of the innovations the Italian government has introduced in its policy to manage migration flows.

Our economic relations are particularly intense, in terms of both investments and our solid communities. As you know, the Italian community in the United Kingdom is one of the largest Italian communities abroad - 600,000 people and many companies that work in the United Kingdom – and there are many British investments here in Italy. We want to intensify and continue this work.

This morning, the Prime Minister met with several CEOs of important Italian and British companies, and we believe there is a lot of new ground to be explored. I think today’s announcement regarding investments worth EUR 500 million only confirms our desire to strengthen bilateral cooperation and boost bilateral trade.

An interesting part of our cooperation, which we want to focus above all on the most strategic and innovative issues, is undoubtedly formed by the Global Compact Air Programme. As you know, the purpose of this programme is to jointly develop a sixth-generation, cutting-edge fighter jet by 2035 together with the United Kingdom and Japan.

This project clearly means opportunities, growth and employment, but it also contributes to developing Europe’s defence industry, because the European defence industry is a problem for the whole of Europe, not just for the Member States of the European Union.

Also with regard to innovation, we are working on a science protocol which forms part of a broader bilateral dialogue on science, innovation and technology, as indeed we are also working together to use existing study opportunities in the best way possible and to maximise exchange and training opportunities for our students, again also by exploring innovative solutions.

In short, Italy intends to maintain this solid relationship it has built and continues to implement with the United Kingdom, and it also wants to accompany and support the UK in the very important work it is doing to foster new and closer cooperation with the European Union, clearly in accordance with the agreements governing post-Brexit relations.

In this context, it is of course also a priority for us to safeguard the rights of Italians living in the UK who, as we were saying, are a particularly large community.

We also discussed – and I am coming to a close – cooperation within NATO and the G7 and the most important issues at international level, starting of course with the war in Ukraine.

We reiterate our support for Kyiv, underlining once again that our goal is to bring an end to this war and help Ukraine on its path towards a future of peace, freedom and prosperity, clearly with the support needed today and with the support necessary for reconstruction.  

As you know, in 2025, Italy will host the Ukraine Recovery Conference, which was held in London in 2023, and this is another important element of our cooperation.

We spoke about the Middle East, agreeing on the fact there can be no further delay in reaching a comprehensive agreement based on the mediation by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, which provides for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and the release of all the Israeli hostages captured by Hamas on 7 October. There can also be no further delay in achieving a decisive change of pace in the provision of humanitarian aid to the civilian population.

Italy once again appeals to all players involved and is of course always ready to do its part. We are at the forefront of international efforts to avert further escalation in the region, starting with Lebanon, and this was something else we talked about. A lasting political solution to the crisis, able to give new impetus to the prospect of a two-state solution, is now more necessary than ever.

As you can see, we discussed many issues. This was a very important meeting that enabled us to achieve concrete results and explore new prospects for joint action. I am therefore very satisfied indeed, and I know this will be just the first of many other meetings.

Thank you Keir, over to you.

[Courtesy translation]