Book of Facts 2024at the opening of the 34th edition of the volume the speech by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the G7 Summit in Borgo Egnazia, Puglia. The theme of safety is the leitmotif of the new edition.
Meloni’s intervention
Here is the extract from the press conference of the G7 Summit in Borgo Egnazia on 15 June 2024.
“[…] I am happy to share with you a final assessment of the G7 Leaders’ Summit under the Italian Presidency. It was an honor for me and for Italy as a whole to preside over this Summit, to preside over the G7 throughout 2024. […] Italy has demonstrated once again, in case it were needed, its ability to live up to the challenge and organize events of this extraordinary importance.
[…] The Leaders’ Summit has concluded […] with the formal adoption of a Final Declaration which had already been defined the day before. And I like to underline this because it doesn’t happen often, and I believe it is an element that demonstrates the unity of purpose of the G7. […]
We have hosted the summits of the UN, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, African Development Bank, OECD and beyond […] to President Zelensky, who […] took part in the special session on Ukraine. Also speaking were the leaders of Brazil, which is also the rotating President of the G20, India, the rotating President of the African Union, then Mauritania, various African nations, the Mediterranean – Algeria, Jordan, Kenya, Tunisia and Turkey –, and of the Gulf, with the United Arab Emirates.
And I think this was another very important signal to give, that the G7 does not want to be […] a closed fortress, it is not a reality that must defend itself from something or someone, it is instead an offer of values that wants to open up to the world to seek solutions linked to development together. I think it was important to try to dismantle that narrative that would have the West against the rest of the world […]. This is not the case and I believe that this approach was confirmed during the Italian Presidency.
[…] I have no difficulty in defining the presence of the Pontiff as a historic moment, which I will never stop thanking enough for the great gift he gave us, not only by participating in the Summit: it was the first time, in almost 50 years of history of the G7, that a Pontiff took part in the work. […] I want to thank him for giving us his invaluable point of view on the topic of artificial intelligence and also for the respect he showed, staying for over three hours to listen to the speeches of all the Leaders in a very long session. I found it an extraordinary message and I will truly be eternally grateful to the Holy Father for this […].
[…] With the Final Declaration, the G7 reiterates its united commitment to defend the international system of rules based on the force of law, a system that has been called into question and at risk with the Russian war of aggression on Ukraine, with results that are under everyone’s eyes, because the crisis points in the world continue to multiply. Differently from what some had hoped or […] predicted, we intend to continue supporting Ukraine and have indeed decided to strengthen our commitment.
[…] The G7 […] reached the agreement, […] anything but obvious, for additional financial support of around 50 billion dollars linked to the extra profits deriving from the immobilization of Russian assets. […] Confirming our support for Ukraine for as long as necessary also remains the sine qua non for launching any diplomatic initiative to resolve the crisis: I also want to reiterate this, that is, the precondition – it has been from the beginning – for any solution peace.
[…] Full agreement on the issue of the conflict in the Middle East is also found in the Declaration. We confirmed our support for the valuable mediation proposal, brought forward in particular by the United States, for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages and a significant increase in humanitarian assistance to the civilian population […]. I want to say on behalf of Italy that I am particularly proud of the commitment that Italy has been able to demonstrate in recent months with respect to the Middle Eastern crisis, particularly on the humanitarian front, because it is a commitment that is recognized by all our interlocutors.
[…] A focus that has characterized the Italian Presidency concerns in particular the relationship with the African continent. I am very proud of the fact that the G7 shared an Italian approach […] deciding to join efforts to build a new model of development and cooperation with African Nations based on an equal partnership, so that these […] can grow and prosper with the resources they possess. We have shared various initiatives on this front at a high level, above all by working to strengthen the synergy between different and perfectly compatible projects. On the one hand, clearly, the Mattei Plan for Africa, an all-Italian initiative, on the other the European Union’s Global Gateway and the G7’s Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment. On the synergy between these three private investment plans, of leading Italian and US companies, as well as international development banks. I believe that this initiative represented one of the flagships of this G7 Leaders’ Summit, because it offers the dimension of concreteness with which we want to work on these issues.
[…] Working on a new approach in cooperation with the African continent, […] from my point of view it is also the best way to deal with another great global emergency, which is the management of migratory flows: this G7, again at the Italian impetus, spoke about it for the first time in its history. In fact, the final declaration reiterates the common commitment to address the root causes of migration, to guarantee what is the first of the rights that must be guaranteed, the right not to have to emigrate, not to have to be forced to leave one’s homeland. […].
But we have also made commitments on the other side of the coin of this problem, which is the fight against human traffickers. We agreed that it is necessary to build coordination at an international level, a global coalition against human traffickers, systematising efforts to combat a scourge that fuels the flows of illegal immigration which, in fact, represent a new form of slavery . I am particularly proud of the discussion and the results on this topic, because it has never been addressed at this Summit, never with such clarity.
We have brought an all-Italian model, which was born from two great Italians, Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino, who in fighting the mafia asked to follow the money, “follow the money”. […] Well, I believe that if we strike at the heart of these criminal organizations, following the proceeds of their trafficking, this can make the difference in our ability to fight the slavers of the third millennium.
[…] An equally significant part of our work concerned the issue of artificial intelligence, […] desired by the Italian Presidency as another of the priorities. Our goal is to ensure that this new technology, as we develop it, remains in any case controlled by man, keeps man as its ultimate goal. On this, the Holy Father clearly gave an extraordinary contribution, including a moral one, while giving concreteness to the concept, which had been promoted by the Holy See, of “algorethics”, that is, giving ethics to algorithms. We managed to get the initiative adopted, in our conclusions, of a label that allows companies that adopt a code of conduct to be recognizable by citizens and consumers. We have started, as we announced, a focus on the impact that artificial intelligence can have on the job market, aware as we are that this technological revolution will have consequences on all sectors and, potentially, on the lives of millions and millions of workers . The declaration addresses many other topics: Indo-Pacific, economic security, supply chains, climate-energy nexus. We are aware that the great challenges of today’s world are fully interconnected, which is why we wanted to maintain high, building on the results of last year’s Japanese Presidency, the priorities of issues related to the Indo-Pacific, economic security, with the aim to give a clear message, particularly to China.
We are open to dialogue, but our companies must be able to compete on equal terms, because the market can only be free if it is also fair. Therefore, free market but within a framework of fair competition.
We have also paid particular attention to the Mediterranean, which is our sea, which has rediscovered its centrality. It is the sea between the two great maritime spaces of the globe, as we have said in recent days, the Atlantic on one side, the Indo-Pacific on the other, passing through the Persian Gulf. A centrality that can also give Italy the opportunity, if exploited well, to become a hub towards the rest of Europe, not only from an energy point of view.
[…] Among the issues that the final Declaration addresses there is obviously the issue linked to climate change, on which it is necessary to maintain high ambition, in terms of results to be achieved, without however adopting ideological positions or preconceptions. The challenge for Italy always remains that of technological neutrality. We must work, also as the G7, with a pragmatic approach that allows us to maintain the commitments we have made at an international level, most recently at COP28 in Dubai, always keeping in mind the needs of our production system and our citizens. That is, we cannot fall into the paradox that by protecting the environment we end up benefiting nations that compete with us and that have no major problems in adopting very aggressive commercial practices, often to the detriment of the environment.
Within the G7 we have also agreed on a strong political commitment in favor of a fairer and more stable international taxation system, the famous Global Minimum Tax: it is a topic which, as you know, I am particularly keen on and on which I have worked as President-in-Office of the Forum.
[…] I am very, very proud of the work we have done, of the success of this Summit. In recent days, Italy has been at the center of the world, the eyes of the world have been focused on us, it was a great responsibility but I am really proud of how our nation has once again managed to amaze and chart the course […]”.