Institutional engagements and missions to Serbia and Qatar
The week began with an unforeseen event. Snow fell over Rome on Monday, making it impossible for the minister to take off for Brussels in the early morning to attend the Foreign Affairs Council.
On Tuesday, Minister Alfano arrived in Belgrade where he met with his Serbian and Albanian colleagues Ivica Dacic and Ditmir Bushati, with whom he had a “fruitful meeting to strengthen our strategic partnership with Belgrade and Tirana”. Regional cooperation, said the minister “is an irreplaceable instrument for the growth of the Western Balkans and for their prospect of EU accession.” At the press conference at the end of the meeting, Minister Alfano positively commented the EU Commission’s decision to indicate 2025 as the horizon for the possible accession to the European Union of Serbia, Montenegro and other Western Balkan Countries. “There is finally a date for these Countries,” he said, pointing out that “it is difficult to ask to make efforts and reforms without offering a date or timeline.”
In addition to these talks and to the bilateral meeting with his Serbian colleague to confirm the intention to continue political dialogue and intensify economic and commercial cooperation, Mr Alfano, in his capacity as Chairperson-in-Office of the OSCE, also met with Andrea Orizio who heads the mission in Serbia of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. “The future of this region depends on the capacity of Countries to overcome the tragic legacy of the past and develop cooperation relations,” said the minister, emphasising that “the OSCE has a very important role to play in this.”
Before departing that same eventing, the Minister celebrated the 150th anniversary of the birth of Luigi Pirandello by opening the exhibition “Nude Masks: Pirandello in Serbia” at the Italian Cultural Institute, displaying the works of Serbian painter Andrea Aleksic inspired by the Agrigento-born writer’s “Six Characters in Search of an Author”. Alfano exalted the “great European dimension of the art” of the Literature Nobel Prize winner.
After his return to Rome, the day closed “with a long telephone conversation” with his colleague Luis Videgaray Caso on the disappearance of three Italian citizens in Mexico. The minister expressed “our great concern and the strong hope that a close connection be established between the Mexican authorities that are carrying out the investigations and our Embassy, hoping that the three Italians may soon be found and that the perpetrators be brought to justice”. He added: “Videgaray assured that the Mexican authorities are putting their utmost efforts on shedding full light on the case.”
On Wednesday, the Italian Development Cooperation National Council met at the Farnesina to examine the three-year Programming Document 2017-2019. “Cooperation in the institution building sector can do much to stabilise crises and make institutions function well: it is a cultural vaccine against totalitarianisms and corruption,” said the minister. He added: “Cooperation means putting protecting human dignity, especially the dignity of those who are ailing and vulnerable, above all else.”
On Thursday morning, the minister left for Doha where he opened the Italian Design Day in the World 2018. “Design and sustainability cross-fertilize to generate new ideas, projects and joint initiatives. Demand for Italian design is constantly growing in the Gulf and exceeds 20 billion euros,” he specified.
Before that, Minister Alfano had met with the Prime Minister and Interior Minister, Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, and was received by the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. He then had a working luncheon at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which was attended, in addition to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, by the top executives of the Qatar Investment Authority and of Qatar Airways.
He flew back to Rome on Friday, where he met with his Thai counterpart, Don Pramudwinai. The meeting was scheduled less than one month after the minister’s trip to Thailand, a Country that the minister defined “a primary commercial partner in the ASEAN and a privileged destination of numerous Italian enterprises.” Alfano reaffirmed Italy’s and the EU’s expectations for the prompt re-establishment of the democratic process as well as respect for fundamental rights and freedoms in Thailand.”
