Italian Undersecretary for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Maria Tripodi, received at the Farnesina the State Secretary of the Federal Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany, Susanne Baumann. The meeting was an opportunity to take stock of the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries, as strengthened by Chancellor Scholz’s recent visit to Rome, in view of the forthcoming intergovernmental summit and the signing of an Action Plan to strengthen cooperation between Italy and Germany. The common will to continue to support Ukraine as much as possible in the face of Russian aggression was also reaffirmed.
Undersecretary Tripodi then stressed that cultural cooperation and dialogue between civil societies are an essential component of bilateral relations between the two countries, citing the dense network of joint initiatives, institutes and centres of excellence. These include Villa Vigoni, the Italian-German Centre for the European Dialogue, Italy’s participation as Guest of Honour at the Frankfurter Buchmesse in 2024, and Italian-German youth exchanges. “More than that, the second edition of the President’s Award in 2023 will allow Italy and Germany to reinforce at the highest institutional level the intense cooperation between our communities and local entities”, Tripodi said.
Undersecretary Tripodi and State Secretary Baumann then touched on the topics of the upcoming Italian G7 Presidency, in particular the measures to increase the economic security of the G7 partners and the European Union.
