Under-Secretary Dassù meets with UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez Taranco

Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Marta Dassù received UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez Taranco today at the foreign ministry in Rome. They reviewed the principal ongoing international events, with an ample discussion of developments in the Syrian crisis and the international community’s commitment – the United Nations’ in particular – to the immediate cessation of the violence and launch of a political process. Under-Secretary Dassù and Taranco also discussed possible developments in Italian foreign policy priority areas such as North Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans. In that regard, Under-Secretary Dassù reiterated Italy’s strong support for all the various UN agencies, recalling our country’s peacekeeping commitments and those on behalf of UN initiatives for the transitions in North Africa and the Middle East, one year on from the Arab spring uprisings. The meeting was followed by a roundtable discussion of prospects for the Mediterranean region by experts from major Italian study and research centres.