Diplomacy for growth, Europe and international crisis management. These are the three pillars of Italian foreign policy, as stated by Foreign Minister Emma Bonino at the press conference held at Palazzo Chigi, the Cabinet Office, at the end of the Council of Ministers meeting.
Diplomacy for growth, looking to Expo 2015
The press conference provided an opportunity to reiterate the key lines followed by Italian foreign policy. Policy that focuses on strengthening Italian companies’ operations abroad and thus helping revitalise the Italian economy, explained the Foreign Minister. She pointed out that “Milan’s Expo 2015 is just over a year and a half away”, and that the Foreign Ministry’s diplomacy for growth efforts will be coordinated with that event.
The French position on a political Europe is a cause for satisfaction, says the Minister
The European dimension is another key pillar of our foreign policy, observed Minister Bonino. “It gives us no small satisfaction to note that the French are beginning to take a more political Europe into consideration, with the position sketched out by Hollande meriting further exploration”. Here, the Minister was referring to the more open attitude to political union as announced yesterday [16 May 2013] by the French President, François Hollande.
Cooperation must combine humanitarian and development goals, says Bonino
International crises, starting with the one in Syria, are another point on which Minister Bonino focused. On the Syrian dossier, the greatest source of hope at present is the meeting taking place in Amman on 22 May, she explained. Minister Bonino also hoped that “Russia will adopt a more open approach, and there may be a cause for hope in that respect”.
Lastly, Minister Bonino turned to international cooperation, “which in 2013 is different from in 1987, when the relevant law was passed in Italy”. The Minister called for a review of the legislation, while the Foreign Ministry’s intention is to flank humanitarian emergency-management goals with development cooperation objectives.