Today, at the Foreign Ministry, Minister Luigi Di Maio opened the first meeting of the inter-institutional Operating Committee on Italy’s contribution to the prevention of and global response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Minister thanked the Deputy Minister Emanuela Del Re, who promoted and chairs the Committee, which includes, among its members, representatives of the key Government departments and other public-sector players involved in the fight against the pandemic, as well as representatives of the civil society, including the for-profit sector, the pharmaceutical industry and research institutions.
The Minister recalled that Italy was among the first G7 countries to be affected by the pandemic, pointing out that the country must be proud of how it has reacted, showing “great capacity in the most difficult of times”. For Mr. Di Maio, today’s event “will contribute to a concrete, unified and orderly response against Covid-19, which will be useful not only to Italy but to other countries as well”.
The Deputy Minister Del Re stressed that “responding to a global crisis such as Covid-19 also means serving the cause of fragile countries and the most vulnerable people, which is in their interest but also strongly in our own. Our country needs global stability in order to develop its relations across the board and from which it benefits directly. If these interconnections are impaired or even altogether lost Italy will be left a lot poorer as a result”.
The meeting featured two panels and a thematic focus. PANEL 1, on the subject of the “Global commitment against the pandemic: focus on ongoing initiatives”, was introduced by Prof. Enrico Giovannini, Spokesperson of the Alliance for Sustainable Development. PANEL 2, on the subject of “Italian inventiveness against the pandemic, our model”, was introduced by the President of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (Higher Institute of Health) Silvio Brusaferro. Last but not least, the thematic focus “How to communicate the Italian model” was developed by Prof. Enrica Amaturo of Naples’ Federico II University.
