On Monday, 23 October, at 11:00 a.m. in Palermo, at Palazzo dei Normanni, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Angelino Alfano, will attend the presentation of “Italy, Cultures, the Mediterranean”, a cultural programme that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) will implement in 2018 in the Countries of the area of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) through its overseas network.
Virtually dovetailing with the MED Dialogues held in Rome, “Italy, Cultures, the Mediterranean” is an integrated promotion programme based on dialogue, sharing and cultural diversity taken as a value, and aims to combine tradition, innovation and creativity.
“The primary objective of our Country is to bolster the already close relations that exist between Italy and the Countries of the Southern Mediterranean,” affirmed Foreign Minister Alfano. The chief Italian diplomat continued: “Cultural cooperation is the main driver to promote dialogue and build a shared growth and development project.” He went on: “Sicily can be a laboratory in which, thanks to tolerance and the coexistence between different cultures, it is possible to discuss a new future for the two shores of the Mediterranean.”
The meeting, which is scheduled on the eve of the OSCE Mediterranean Conference to be chaired by Italy, will open with remarks by the Mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Angelino Alfano and the Foreign Minister of the Republic of Tunisia, Khemaies Jhinaoui.
The agenda of the conference will continue with contributions by the representatives of all the partner Countries, local institutions, the media and Italian intellectuals and artists, in addition to several testimonials by people active in promoting cooperation and dialogue in the Mediterranean.
The debate will be moderated by Vincenzo De Luca, Director General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation of the MAECI.
Journalists, photographers and TV crews interested in following the event are requested to apply for accreditation in one of the following two ways (by 6 p.m. on Friday, 20 October):
– by filling the interactive form and clicking on the event concerned at the link http://mae.accreditationsystem.info/ITA/Indice.asp, attaching thereto, unless already provided, the documentation requested in digital format (letter from the media organisation and, for representatives of foreign media, also a Note Verbale released by the Rome Embassy of the media organisation’s Country);
– by sending an email to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation’s Institutional Press and Communication Service at the following address: press_OSCEPalermo@esteri.it, (Tel. + 39 06/3691.3432 or 8573 or 8210), attaching thereto the letter of his/her media organisation (or press card) and, for members of the foreign press, a Note Verbale released by the Rome Embassy of the media organisation’s Country.
Accredited journalists, photographers and TV crews must collect their accreditation badges in person in Palermo at the Palazzo dei Normanni, Piazza del Parlamento n. 1, from 10:00 to 10:45 a.m.
