Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, will preside over a meeting dedicated to Corridor VIII, a multimodal infrastructure included in the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) that will connect the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea, to be held at Federiciano Castle in Brindisi today. Participants will include the Ministers for Foreign Affairs of Albania, Bulgaria and North Macedonia.
In addition to a session specifically dedicated to Corridor VIII, the agenda of the proceedings will include a discussion focusing on the conflict in Ukraine, the Western Balkans and migration issues. Also on the agenda is a discussion on the need for greater involvement of local communities and the younger generation, which is crucial for increasing the confidence of Balkan civil society in the prospect of integration into the European Union of the countries in the region. In fact, it is a prospect to which Italy attaches great importance and which it wholeheartedly supports.
“Together with Albania, Bulgaria and North Macedonia, we want to promote more intense cooperation and integration through Corridor VIII. This meeting will also serve to launch a platform for political dialogue and cooperation that will set an example for regional cooperation in the Balkans by associating two EU member states and two candidate countries,” commented the Deputy Prime Minister. “The Balkans are a region of strategic importance for Italy, in which the Italian government has invested, profiling itself as a leading player.”
On the sidelines of the meeting, after a brief visit aboard the Italian Navy ship San Giorgio, Tajani and the other Ministers for Foreign Affairs will travel to the UN Global Service Centre and the Humanitarian Response Depot. The UN Base in Brindisi is a centre of excellence, in which Italy intends to continue to invest, also by virtue of the spin-off it creates for the local economy.
