The case of the Italian servicemen detained in India comes before the UN, raised by Minister Giulio Terzi, who discussed it with high level UN officials while in New York, and expressed his hopes for a rapid solution.
Damage to counter-piracy efforts.
This has been “a highly negative episode that has damaged international counter-piracy efforts, and I hope not irreversibly”, said the minister in the margins of the high-level work forum on the Role of Member States in Mediation, in which he spoke in the hall of the General Assembly. Terzi also met at the UN with Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and President of the General Assembly Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser: “I noted the marked concern of even these very prominent interlocutors”, Terzi asserted.
Terzi spoke to the forum itself, underscoring the importance of mediation between States, which cannot be considered “optional, as sometimes happens”. He also mentioned how diversity over “the interpretation of maritime law, international waters, counter-piracy and counter-terrorism are topics that need to be confronted through mediation”.
Growth agenda a maximum priority
The minister then spoke with journalists on issues regarding the economic crisis, precisely while Brussels was opening a very delicate EU summit. Terzi reiterated “the Italian government’s firm conviction that the growth agenda is a maximum priority”. The Italian government and Premier Monti, he added, “have often asserted that budgetary disciple is essential for overcoming the crisis, but that now is the time to concentrate on measures to promote and strengthen growth”.
Rapid and complete application of the Annan plan
Responding to questions on Syria, the Minister underscored the need for the “complete” and rapid application of the Annan plan since the Syrian forces should already have been withdrawn from the cities several weeks ago, stressing that therefore “the time is not now, it was yesterday”. He also pointed out that the Annan plan is not open-ended, and that once the prescribed three months have passed, if the results are not satisfactory it will be necessary to “discuss it more seriously in the UN Security Council, which will have to come out with a new and possibly stronger resolution”. And on this front the minister also expressed the fear that the Syrian crisis could spread to Lebanon through “various forms or the agendas of groups, countries or regimes that could have an interest in distracting the international community’s attention away from Syria”.
