Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are in Brindisi for the ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Global Service Centre, the facility overseeing the logistics of UN peacekeeping operations. In addition to providing logistical support, the Global Service Centre in Brindisi stores materials needed for the rapid deployment of new field missions and provides geo-spatial, computer and telecommunications services to field operations.
“We are proud to have the heart of the UN peacekeeping logistics operations in Brindisi. The centre is also used to store and ship humanitarian aid collected through the Food for Gaza initiative, which I launched in March to provide concrete help to the Palestinian population,” said Deputy Prime Minister Tajani.
“The Food for Gaza initiative is being implemented in cooperation with the WFP, FAO and FICROSS, as well as numerous partners of the Italian Country System. The aim is to ensure the prompt delivery of non-perishable food products and medical equipment to the Strip,” the Minister added. To this end, the first shipment of 24 tonnes of aid to the Palestinian population left Nepi on 3 June.
The President of the Apulia Region Michele Emiliano, the Mayor of Brindisi Giuseppe Marchionna, and the Director of the United Nations Global Service Centre Giovanna Ceglie will also speak at the ceremony. Brindisi hosts both the United Nations Global Service Centre (UNGSC), located at the military section of the city’s airport, and the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot (UNHRD) of the World Food Programme, which supports humanitarian interventions.
The UNHRD Base in Brindisi is part of an international network of depots located in different areas of the world (Brindisi, Dubai, Accra, Panama, Kuala Lumpur). It is located in a former US Air Force base in San Vito dei Normanni and provides significant support to the humanitarian efforts of the Italian Cooperation, which covers its management costs and stores all its stocks of humanitarian goods in the depot.
Located in the heart of the Mediterranean, Brindisi offers a strategic position to respond quickly to emergencies and to support UN operations in crisis areas in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Humanitarian shipments ordered by the Italian Government depart from the Brindisi base, including those under the Food for Gaza initiative and, among the most recent, the flight to Brazil to respond to the emergency in the State of Rio Grande do Sul (29 May 2024).
