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«I cannot help but start by saying that it was an honor for me and for Italy as a whole to preside over the G7, it was a success without fear of denial». The curtain falls on the meeting of the world’s greats, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sums up the event at the opening of the final press conference of the summit in Borgo Egnazia. «The final declaration is a broad and significant document with many commitments to global challenges, concrete commitments that concern key issues for our future». And he underlines the “compactness” of the summit and thanking “all my colleagues”, named one by one.
«I will never thank the Pope enough»
“Yesterday we experienced an extraordinary day with the presence of the Holy Father, I can never thank him enough”, remarks the Prime Minister in speaking of a “very precious point of view” and an “extraordinary message” from Pope Francis.
«Strengthened support for Ukraine»
«The G7 reiterates its united commitment to defend the international system of rules based on law, put at risk by the Russian war of aggression». Even if there were those who thought the opposite, “we intend to continue to support Ukraine and we have chosen to strengthen our lines of action with a 360-degree commitment.” For Meloni, the agreement on profits from Russian assets was not “a given”, “to be defined from a technical point of view in the coming weeks”. With an important emphasis. «If today the peace conference in which Italy is also participating opens in Switzerland, it is because we, the G7, with our decisive and united support in these two years, have ensured that Ukraine was not invaded. It’s worth always remembering this.”
«Proud to have demonstrated G7 is not a fortress»
«I think it was a very important signal to give, the G7 does not want to be a closed fortress, it does not have to defend itself from something or someone but» gives a system of work that «wants to offer itself to the world to seek solutions related to development together. It was important to dismantle that narrative that would have the West against the rest of the world, this approach was confirmed during the Italian presidency and I am proud” to have offered “a completely” different story. The delegation of outreach guests was “the largest”.
«On global tax now it’s up to the States, Italy is there»
Within the G7 «we have agreed on a strong political commitment in favor of a fairer and more stable international taxation system, the famous global minimum tax, a topic that I particularly care about. Yesterday we listened to the OECD secretary explain to us that it is ready to be signed on a technical level. The G7 and the OECD worked in parallel.” Now it’s up to the States, adds the Prime Minister, and “Italy’s will is there and I hope it will be done as soon as possible”.
