Today the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, has met with the Lebanese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nassif Hitti, at the Foreign Ministry. Hitti’s visit to Rome was the first in Europe since the outbreak of Covid-19 emergency.
The meeting made possible to reaffirm – in a particularly delicate stage for Lebanon – Italy’s commitment to stability, safety and prosperity in the country and to review the main issues on the agenda at both bilateral and regional level.
First of all, Minister Di Maio confirmed Italian support for the reform process undertaken by Prime Minister Diab’s Executive, an essential condition to overcome the current difficulties, to relaunch economy and to satisfy the legitimate aspirations of the Lebanese people. On the security front, Minister Di Maio recalled the major contribution made by our country to the Lebanese armed and security forces through the MIBIL bilateral training mission and the supply of non‑lethal material, in line with the commitments made at the Conferenza Roma II conference in 2018. He also reiterated with determination Italy’s commitment to UNIFIL (to which we are contributing with the second largest contingent in terms of manpower and Force Commander Del Col), a mission that continues to play a fundamental role for the stability of the region.
Finally, the meeting enabled us to take stock of the main regional dossiers of mutual interest, and in particular the Israeli-Palestinian Peace Process and the Syrian crisis.
