Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy |

Mediterranean Dialogues: Rome is the hub for reviewing strategies

ROME, Italy, December 1, 2016/APO/ --

The second edition of the MED (Mediterranean Dialogues) Forum, organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and ISPI (Institute for International Political Studies), will be held in Rome from today, 1 December, to Saturday, 3 December. It will count on the presence of more than 40 heads of State, ministers and top officials of International Organisations, and 500 leading figures from the world of politics, finance and the economy, 80 representatives of think tanks and international institutions, and scholars and experts from approximately 55 Countries, thus proving the extent to which this project is shared and supported worldwide.

On Thursday, 1 December, the Forum will be opened at 2 p.m. by Minister Paolo Gentiloni. Again on 1 December, the participants in the Forum will be received by the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella. Participation to the event is exclusively upon invitation.

The Forum is entirely open to the press (see attached programme) and is divided into three day sessions on the so-called four “pillars”: Shared Prosperity; Shared Security; Migration; Media; Culture & Society.

Participants also include John KERRY, Secretary of State, United States of America; Sergey LAVROV, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Russia; Boris JOHNSON, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, United Kingdom; Federica MOGHERINI, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy; Mohammad Javad ZARIF, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Iran; Mohammed AL-THANI, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar; Giorgio Napolitano, Honorary President of ISPI; Staffan DE MISTURA, UN Special Envoy for Syria; Frans TIMMERMANS, First Vice-President of the European Commission; Ibrahim Abdul-Kareem Hamza Al-Eshaiker AL-JAAFARI, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iraq; Ahmed ABOUL-GHEIT, Secretary General of the Arab League; Roberta PINOTTI, Minister of Defence of Italy; Edi RAMA, Prime Minister of Albania; Filippo GRANDI, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; Ibrahim GHANDOUR, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sudan; Claudio DESCALZI, CEO of ENI; Mauro MORETTI, CEO of Leonardo Finmeccanica Spa; Emma MARCEGAGLIA, President of BusinessEurope.

Shared security, fighting terrorism, the future of the Middle East – with a special focus on Syria and Libya – immigration, energy, growth, and the role of women and youth in relaunching the economy are some of the key issues addressed by the three-day event that will turn Rome and this important Forum into a full-fledged “hub” of debate on the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean is not only an area of conflict and crisis but a space with great potential to be exploited in developing a positive agenda that might leave behind widespread pessimism and restore the region’s centrality in a continuously changing international scenario.

The idea of Hub was reinforced by a round of meetings called “Pre-Med”, which were held from 30 November to the morning of 1 December, in addition to the scientific partnership between the European University Institute, IFRI, Bruegel, Chatam House, DGAP and the European Council on Foreign Relations. The round of meetings included a meeting of entrepreneurs from the two shores of the Mediterranean (promoted by Confindustria-BusinessMed); a meeting of the Aspen European Strategy Group; meetings between Mediterranean Energy Regulators and between security experts and representatives of the NATO Defence College; a ministerial meeting on energy promoted by the European Commission and a meeting between the policy planners of the Foreign Ministries of the area; a meeting between international media, promoted by RAI in partnership with one of the representatives of the Think Tanks in the area and the Steering Committee of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Center.   

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Italy.