G20 Summit: President Meloni’s press point

Introduction by President Meloni

Good morning everyone.

I’ll first provide a recap of the G20. As you know, the Brazilian Presidency has focused above all on three main themes for this summit, the first of which regards the fight against hunger and poverty. President Lula has launched an alliance against hunger and poverty, which Italy has joined in line with our work during the G7, particularly with the Apulia Food Systems Initiative, the international initiative to above all defend food security, in African countries especially. 

We are clearly very far from solving the issue of fighting hunger and poverty, above all considering the current crises which are having an even greater impact on the most vulnerable nations: the crisis in Ukraine, where Russia, not satisfied with having invaded a sovereign nation, has gone on to use wheat as a weapon; and then there is of course the situation in the Middle East where, as you know, Italy is at the forefront, as well as in efforts for an immediate ceasefire and the release of the Israeli hostages, also and above all in alleviating the suffering of the civilian population – our Food for Gaza initiative has allowed 47 tonnes of basic necessity goods to be delivered to the Strip. 

We have of course also talked about our work with the Mattei Plan, in relation to which agriculture and water in African countries are some of our priorities and, in this regard, we have therefore also had the opportunity to highlight how much synergy there has been between the G7 Presidency and the G20 Presidency this year.

Then there is the issue of the governance of the multilateral system, particularly the matter of the Security Council reform. In this regard, we agree with the Brazilian Presidency on the need for reform, we do not agree with the goals of the reform. 

As you know, Italy is against new permanent seats. Our position is that there needs to be new temporary seats that are distributed by geographical area on a rotating basis. In other words, the reform makes sense if it allows multilateral institutions to be more inclusive, not add more dysfunction the likes of which we have already seen.

The focus this morning will instead be on energy transition and sustainable development. We will be using also this opportunity to highlight the work carried out by the Italian Presidency of the G7 as well as Italy’s efforts, with particular regard to nuclear fusion. We are at the forefront of this technology, which still requires time but can objectively change history, transforming energy from a geopolitical weapon into a resource accessible to all.

Our challenge is to keep asking for a more pragmatic approach to the energy transition; the challenge is technological neutrality. All available technologies should be used, one of which being the matter of so-called biofuels. In this regard, among other things, India launched a global biofuels alliance during the last G20 Presidency, of which Italy is a member.

In this regard, this morning I will be reaffirming the things I already said in Baku, i.e., that we cannot pursue environmental sustainability at the cost of economic desertification, simply because there is nothing green about a desert. 

In addition to these three major themes, many other matters that are important to us are also included in the conclusions, in line with the work at G7 level: artificial intelligence; migration; the matter of international taxation.

As you have seen, there have also been many bilateral meetings in the margins of the Summit. I met with President Lula, with whom we agreed to work on a new action plan in order to update our strategic partnership, which we should be signing during my next visit soon. I also think we need to come back here to meet with the Italian community. This year marks the 150th anniversary of Italian emigration to Brazil and the political visits this year have been unprecedented, in terms of both number and quality. President of the Republic Mattarella came, as you know, and we must continue with this work.

I met with the Crown Prince of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, with whom we also and above all spoke about strengthening cooperation in terms of investments. I met with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who will be the next G7 Presidency. We of course spoke about Canada’s G7 priorities, which are in line with Italy’s priorities. I met with the Vietnamese Prime Minister, with whom we also discussed how to strengthen cooperation; he has asked us to visit during 2025, and we hope to be able to satisfy that request.

We met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with whom we have adopted an updated action plan regarding our strategic partnership. This was a commitment we made during the G7 Summit and we have managed to do it despite the very short time frames. I also met with the President of the World Bank. We have been working with both the World Bank and the African Development Bank to find new tools in order to foster investments in Africa; this is another excellent collaboration. I hope I am not forgetting anyone; there was clearly also the opportunity to speak with practically all the leaders.