Day of meetings in Chigi: Meloni receives Orban and the president of Singapore

Day of bilateral meetings for the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, today at Palazzo Chigi. Prime Minister of Hungary Viktor Orban he will be received this afternoon before taking over the leadership of the European Presidency. A mini-tour that will see him not only in Italy, but also in Germany and France. In the background the appointment of the community leaders after the stalemate at the informal dinner between the leaders in Brussels on 18 June. Today marks the start of a crucial week for the choice of the next EU summits, with the outgoing President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen (EPP) running for a second term. In fact, negotiations are continuing in view of the European Council on 27 and 28 June.

The president of Singapore is also present in Rome, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, at the invitation of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, who he will meet at the Quirinale before going to Chigi at 3pm for a meeting with the prime minister. On 22 June the Singaporean president, with his wife, was received in a private audience by Pope francesco. “It was a privilege,” Tharman said on Facebook after the hearing. “Pope Francis has spoken of the need to end war and conflict in the world and the immense human suffering they continue to inflict. We also discussed interreligious harmony, which is more important than ever,” he said. Tharman shared with the Pontiff his country’s experience in preserving civil coexistence between communities of different faiths and said he looked forward to receiving the Holy Father in Singapore on the trip scheduled for September. Pope Francis, Tharman concluded, gave him a bronze relief with two clasped hands in the foreground, a woman with a child and a migrant ship behind and the colonnade of St. Peter in the background.

The official visit to Rome was preceded, according to what was reported by the Singaporean Foreign Ministry, by a working visit (20-23 June) to participate in a meeting of the Group of Thirty (G30), an international organization of financiers and academics deals with in-depth economic and financial issues, hosted by the Bank of Italy, and to co-chair a meeting of the Global Commission on the Economy of Water (Gcew). The official trip will continue in Estonia tomorrow and the day after (25 and 26 June), at the invitation of his counterpart Alar Karis, with whom Tharman will have a meeting and of whom he will be a guest for a banquet. The agenda also includes meetings with the prime minister, Kaja Kallas, and with the president of the State Assembly, the unicameral parliament, Lauri Hussar. Tomorrow, before arriving in Tallinn, a stop is planned in Helsinki, with a breakfast with the President of Finland, Alexander Stubb.

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