President Meloni’s remarks with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer

President Meloni: Thank you, Keir (it’s my second bilateral at the G7, Friedrich was here and I just met him). I think it is a very good occasion to stay two days together in these difficult times and try to discuss about all the topics that we have, as you were saying: the recent events in the Middle East and the path towards a just and lasting peace in Ukraine, and then the efforts that we will have to do in Europe to reinforce our defence, our security, that will lead us to the NATO Summit. And then many bilateral topics, many very important things that Italy and the UK are doing together, also for example on defence with the GCAP and other very strategic initiatives. And then I am very happy about our cooperation on migration

Prime Minister Starmer: Yes, on migration we’ve got a lot to discuss.

President Meloni: Yes, a lot to discuss, and we’ve been working very hard in these days to have a dedicated joint declaration to tackle traffickers and it was very important for Italy, for you know we’ve been the first bringing the topic at the G7 level, so I’m very happy that this work continues and thanks to the UK for being very clear on this topic. So, many, many things to be discussed and it’s a privilege for me to have this occasion.