Letter to the editor from Minister Alfano – “The strength of a Union of concentric circles” (Corriere della Sera)

I am surprised at the great stir caused by the statements recently released by German Chancellor Angela Merkel on a two-speed Europe. In Europe, different speeds, concentric circles and a differentiation according to the context, are already a reality. The issue therefore is not “if” but how and when to come to terms with this […]

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Minister Alfano holds a telephone conversation with his Macedonian counterpart Minister Poposki

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Angelino Alfano, last evening had a telephone conversation with the Foreign Minister of the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Nikola Poposki. The conversation – held on the eve of the Foreign and Energy ministerial meetings of the six Balkan Countries, representing a significant step towards the Western […]

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Farnesina – First Conference of the Heads of Visa Offices

The Foreign Ministry has organised the “First Conference of the Heads of Visa Offices” under the title “Visa Day”. Dedicated to the Heads of the largest Visa Offices of the Italian diplomatic and consular network, the Conference took place on 27 January with the attendance of officials who were selected by virtue of the complexity […]

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Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Angelino Alfano, receives his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Mohammed Al-Thani, at the Farnesina today

The rich agenda of the talks focused on the bilateral relations between the two countries, with special attention to the interests of Italian companies in Qatar and actions to attract Qatari investments in Italy. Moreover, Minister Alfano and Sheikh Al-Thani examined the current situation in Libya and Syria and discussed the state of the peace process […]

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Italian Economic Diplomacy, 04 February – Latest news from the world

Albania launches “One-billion project financing” The Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama presented the “One billion project financing” initiative. Nearly one billion dollars per year for the next three years will be made available to finance public investments either to build new infrastructure or to improve already existing ones. The initiative will target three infrastructural sectors: […]

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Afghanistan – Herat-Chist-e Sharif, a 155 km-long road to come out of isolation

A one-hundred and fifty-five kilometre road will facilitate connections between Herat and Chist-eSharif in western Afghanistan, helping thousands of citizens come out of isolation, representing an important stretch of road connecting the eastern area to the western area of the country. The Italian government, with the support of Development Cooperation,  allocated over 92 million euro for the construction of […]

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Marikana, the end of the rainbow dream narrated by Raphael D’Abdon

In August of 2012 in Marikana, South Africa, the police opened fire on a group of miners in protest: 34 people were killed in the turmoil. These tragic events are told in “Marikana. Il Sudafrica e la fine del sogno arcobaleno”, a book edited by Raphael D’Abdon (published by Aviani&Aviani, Udine 2015) which will be […]

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Russia: Minister Alfano holds a telephone conversation with his Russian counterpart Minister Lavrov

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Angelino Alfano, today had a telephone conversation with the Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation, Sergey V. Lavrov. The two ministers agreed to meet shortly, at the first possible opportunity, which will be in Bonn on 16 and 17 February, on the fringes of the G20 Meeting. […]

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Mexico – Conference celebrates the importance of Italian folk songs

‎The Italian Cultural Institute in Mexico City will organize an event dedicated to Italian folk music on Wednesday February 15. In a lecture entitled “Introduction to Italian folk music”, Professor Sabina Longhitano will discuss the general characteristics of the genre with a view to making it more widely known and loved, considering that the repertory […]

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Germany – Exhibition devoted to Marcello Mastroianni kicks off on Wednesday

The Italian Cultural Institute in Berlin, in cooperation with Cineteca di Bologna [film library], organised an exhibition on Marcello Mastroianni to be inaugurated on 8 February. The exhibit will open with a lecture by Gian Luca Farinelli, Director of the Cineteca. Photos and posters which narrate the story of one of the most famous actors […]

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Serbia – Cinema pays homage to Giuseppe De Santis on the 100th anniversary of his birth

The Yugoslav Cinematheque in Belgrade (Kosovska 11) will open a cycle of screenings dedicated to Giuseppe de Santis on Friday, 3 February. The three-day event, organised in cooperation with the Italian Cultural Institute in Belgrade, aims to pay homage to the Italian film director on the 100th anniversary of his birth (11 February 1917). From […]

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Italy’s Economic Diplomacy, 2 February: latest news from the world

Turkey: development incentive package for 23 provinces to be launched The Turkish Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim, announced the details of the programme of incentives for investors to create attraction centres in the country’s twenty-three eastern and southern provinces. Prime Minister Yildirim reported that up to 11 January, Ankara received 1,200 requests to benefit from state […]

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