On the sidelines of the works of G7 the bilateral meeting between the head of the Italian government, Giorgia Meloni, and the president of the United States of America was held in Borgo Egnazia, Joe Biden. In the American delegation that took part in the face-to-face meeting, which lasted just over half an hour, there was also the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinkenand the White House National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan. Inside the Brindisi resort the two mainly addressed the issues of Ukraine and Chinese support for the Russian war effort. This was reported by a senior official of the US Administration, in a briefing with journalists following, in which the topics of the conversation between the two leaders were anticipated.
“Prime Minister Meloni strongly supports the sovereignty of Ukraine“the official said, emphasizing “the important announcement” made yesterday regarding the use of proceeds from frozen Russian assets in favor of Kiev. The two leaders also discussed the “problematic support that China has provided (to Moscow) in terms of equipment and dual-purpose goods regarding the Russian defense industrial base“. During the meeting, the president and the prime minister also discussed China and the “worrying Chinese support supplied to Russia in terms of dual-use materials and goods to support the Russian industrial base“.
Precisely in this regard, according to the draft currently circulating by the seven greats of the world (who today will share the stage with the leaders of India, Brazil, Turkey and other non-Western countries), the G7 intends to extend “the scope of the sanctions to hit businesses and banks in China too“. Those companies and lenders “who are helping Russia circumvent sanctions on goods and technologies used in weapons production“. The source listed a number of materials, such as microelectronics components, that can be used for the production of weapons that are used not only in Ukraine, but represent “a long-term threat to Europe’s security“. In the briefing before the bilateral meeting, we were also asked about the clash over the inclusion of theabortion in the final statement, which Italy wanted to keep out: “I am not aware of any intention to discuss this topic. I can tell you that the G7 statement will be approved by consensus among all G7 countries“, the official replied.
The face-to-face meeting, initially scheduled for 10.45am according to the program released by the White House, began late due to the continuation of the work of the first session of the day dedicated to the topic of migration. For the bilateral meeting, President Biden sat with Meloni in front of a blue G7 sign with the flags of the United States and Italy. “They’re just doing things photo?“, Biden asked, turning to Meloni. She simply nodded without making any comments and then the photographers were asked to leave the room where the bilateral meeting between the two began.
On Thursday evening the head of the White House himself had missed dinner with the President of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella, officially because his agenda was full. In addition to this Italy-US meeting, today we also talked about migration, the Indo-Pacific and artificial intelligence. He also took part in the session Pope francesco.
