Dear Editor
I would like to express some observations regarding your newspaper’s commentary on our foreign policy efforts under circumstances that have inspired criticism. If, on the one hand, it is proper and understandable that these affairs be kept in the spotlight, on the other hand, their complexity is leading to a misapprehension that I, as Minister for Foreign Affairs, wish to shed as much light on as possible. I will make a special report to the parliament on the tragic killing of engineer Franco Lamolinara, on the basis of the precise explanation being furnished to the Senate by all the institutions concerned. I have been in contact with British Foreign Minister William Hague, who has assured me of London’s full willingness to provide every clarification regarding the timetable, modality and execution of its decision to intervene militarily. Within this context, Minister Hague also informed me of his intention to travel to Rome in the coming days.
I would also like to clarify that the foreign ministry continues its daily monitoring of all cases of abduction or danger to Italians working in regions where the security risk is high. We are dealing with extremely complex situations involving international terrorist organisations operating in vast areas stretching from the Maghreb to the Indian Ocean, and from Pakistan to Latin America. Efforts are intense and constant, and clamour is counterproductive and often intensifies the danger. That is why we were concerned over false reports of the release of Rosella Urru, which the foreign ministry has done everything possible to verify and clarify while only receiving criticism in exchange, as if this negative confusion had not been created by others. But it is precisely the Urru case that exemplifies the need for absolute reserve in handling and a true unity of intent.
I would underscore the same for the different situation involving Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, our servicemen being held unjustly in India. From the first moment, i.e. as soon as I heard the news of what had happened in the international waters south of India, I expressed my negative opinion on the ship’s entry into Indian territory, and I continued to formally oppose the transfer of the men to shore, which took place under the coercion of the Indian police. From the first day forward, I pursued efforts at every official and informal level with the Indian government, even through major friends and international organisations, on behalf of a concrete solution that would bring our men home. It was my decision to send Under-Secretary De Mistura immediately with a high-level inter-ministerial mission, with which I remain in continuous contact. I was in India to show both that government and our servicemen how much this solution means to Italy. I would do it again, and I intend to go back.
I personally consider criticism useful when it is constructive; I do not believe that it always is, but consider it extremely important to display a sense of unity and determination of our foreign policy’s support of the role, dignity and interests of our country and of our fellow nationals around the world.
The efforts of the foreign ministry over these recent months, and my own personal ones, have accompanied and supported those conducted by the Prime Minister aimed at promoting a credible image of Italy internationally, which is being recognised with increasing conviction and frequency on both the economic and the more strictly diplomatic planes. This is true not only on the scenarios where we have traditionally played a lead role (beginning with the Euro-Atlantic one), but also in specific diplomatic initiatives and economic promotion centred on priority themes and geographic areas at this precise historic moment.
This was borne out over the past weekend in Copenhagen where, in concluding a shared reflection on the future of Europe, the 27 EU foreign ministers acknowledged many of the priorities that I have raised in dozens of meetings and missions over recent months in Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States. First and foremost the defence of human rights, particularly those of the most vulnerable segments of the society, women, religious minorities, ensuring everyone complete freedom of worship. We asked for and have obtained the European Union’s greater attention and financial support for the Mediterranean. Europe must be able to speak not only to the young people but also to the populations, who are the true protagonists of the Arab spring movements and that risk remaining incomplete. A point of arrival for our strategy, and confirmation of Italy’s central role, was the conference of foreign ministers of the 5+5 Dialogue, which united the ten Mediterranean coastal member nations in Rome on 20 February for the first time since the Arab spring.
The defence of national economic interests and support for our country’s growth has been our absolute priority over these past months. My recent mission to Asia confirmed how the economic reforms and liberalisations enacted by our government have made Italy an increasingly attractive market for foreign investors, while for the Italian firms that accompanied us on our missions, a new market of 600 million people, the ASEAN market, has opened up.
