Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani, together with the Commander of the Carabinieri, Army Corps General Salvatore Luongo, opened the closing session of the series of meetings titled ‘Carabinieri Corps meet Diplomacy’ today at the Farnesina. The meeting aims to introduce the Ministry and its activities to the Officer Cadets of the Carabinieri Corps.
The meeting focused on the fight against illicit trafficking, the related international challenges, and best practices for collaboration within the ‘Sistema Italia’. Among the participants were 60 third-year officer cadets from the 203rd Advanced Training Course and the young diplomats from the “Renato Ruggiero” Competition.
Minister Tajani’s remarks focused on the collaboration between the Carabinieri Corps and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs—a success story in crisis zones and beyond. Concrete results of this cooperation include, for example, the Falcone-Borsellino Programme for the Rule of Law in Latin America, or the collaboration between the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage and Mexico, counterterrorism activities in Africa and the fight against transnational crime and drug trafficking in the Balkans, as well as assistance to the civilian population and the training of the Lebanese Armed Forces and Police through UNIFIL and the bilateral MIBIL mission. Finally, the Carabinieri played a key role in the repatriation of the Italians caught up in the Gulf crisis. Another highlight is the CoESPU in Vicenza, the Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units, which has trained thousands of police officers in partnership with the United Nations.
In addition to Lebanon, the Carabinieri are involved in numerous international missions: from the NATO KFOR Mission in Kosovo to the NATO Training Mission in Iraq (NMI), and from European missions in Somalia to the MIADIT training missions in Palestine and Djibouti. The Carabinieri are also deployed as part of the EUBAM Rafah mission on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, as well as in missions in Niger (MISIN), Libya (MIASIT), and Eulex Kosovo. The Carabinieri’s overseas network includes more than 560 officers stationed at 221 locations, including Embassies, Consulates, and Permanent Representations. Their role is essential, among other things, for the safety of Italian personnel stationed at Italian diplomatic missions around the world.
