The Italian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Edmondo Cirielli, visited the Meeting for Friendship Amongst Peoples (Rimini Meeting) on 24 August and took part in the event “Food security and sustainability: cooperating to grow” organised by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Pavilion #1Italycooperates.
The event saw the participation of Francesco Lollobrigida, Italian Minister of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry; Massimiliano Giansanti, President of Confagricoltura; Giangiacomo Pierini, Director of Corporate Affairs & Sustainability Coca-Cola HBC Italia and President of ASSOBIBE; Giovanni Pomella, Managing Director of Lactalis and Advisor of Centromarca; and Matteo Zoppas, President of ICE.
The meeting focused on the increasingly central issue of food security and how sustainable growth of food systems can be achieved in Italy and around the world. The event also highlighted the close link between food and climate change, as emerged during the second UN Summit on Food Systems hosted by the Italian government in Rome in July 2023. Finally, the panel highlighted the role that the Italian agrifood chain – with its wealth of knowledge and skills – can play in favour of technological innovation and the development of sustainable practices in agriculture.
In his speech, Cirielli stressed that “Italy is increasingly the international capital of food security. Our goal is to consolidate this position, strengthening the strategic partnership with the international organisations in the sector present in Italy, including CIHEAM Bari, while promoting the Italian agrifood supply chain, which is one of the most structured and solid on a global scale, and which we wanted to bring to the Summit, where we presented our good practices”.
Deputy Minister Edmondo Cirielli also visited the International Pavilion built by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in collaboration with CIHEAM Bari and dedicated to the 2030 Agenda and the work of the Italian Cooperation.
