Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, and Minister for Sport and Youth Affairs, Andrea Abodi, will preside the launching event of the First Edition of “Giornata dello Sport Italiano nel Mondo” (Italian Sports Day in the World)’, to be held tomorrow at Villa Madama at 11.00 am. This new thematic event will enrich the calendar of annual events for the integrated promotion of the Offices of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation abroad.
The initiative will see the participation of important personalities from the world of sport. In particular, the Paralympic athlete Manuel Bortuzzo, the Italian National Women’s Epee team, represented by the athletes Rossella Fiamingo and Alberta Santuccio, and the Italian National Women’s Volleyball team, will be designated “Ambassadors of Sports Diplomacy”. National football team coach Luciano Spalletti, tennis player Elisabetta Cocciaretto, and Italian-American baseball coach and former player Mike Piazza will also be present.
“Since the beginning of my mandate, our aim has been to strengthen the action of sports diplomacy, an integral part of the broader strategy of growth diplomacy carried out by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The new integrated promotion event will allow us to showcase Italian excellence, districts and industries through sport and its protagonists, and to enhance sport as a tool for the cohesion and integration of Italian communities abroad,” commented Minister Tajani, who mentioned the many initiatives carried out by MAECI and its network of 309 Offices abroad to promote Italian know-how, contribute to the strategic positioning of Italy and increase its attractiveness.
“In the aftermath of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics, with all its meanings, including on a social level, we are launching the Italian Sports Day in the World to share with other nations and with the vast Italian community abroad, the values, experiences and life lessons imparted to us by our athletes. I am thinking of the principles of sporting integrity and respect, discipline and sacrifice, inclusion and cohesion. This is the ‘heart’ of the commitment that the Italian Government intends to support, promote and spread in our communities, both in Italy and abroad,” affirmed Minister Abodi.
The Italian Sports Day in the World, jointly created by MAECI and the Minister for Sport and Youth, CONI and the sports bodies, will be held annually, starting this year, in the second week of September. The launch of this Day follows the establishment of the Sports Diplomacy Office at MAECI in January.
