G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting
The G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting is to be held in Trieste from 25 to 27 June. There are to be two important new developments at the meeting, both of which reflect the Italian Presidency's desire to impart greater dynamism to the G8 exercise, introducing innovations, in the shape of proposals for unprecedented formats, modalities and content.
The first innovative aspect is going to be the meeting's priority focus on the global challenges to security. Apart from the attention traditionally devoted to non-proliferation, to combating terrorism and to the struggle against transnational organized crime, this year the ministerial declaration will be devoting a great deal of room to the phenomenon of piracy, with a view to promoting increasingly effective coordination in combating the phenomenon and in supporting the multilateral activities taking place in the Gulf of Aden and off the Somali coast.
One of the main topics on the regional agenda is Iran: the tragic developments that have taken place in the wake of the 12 June presidential election are to be debated also in the light of their impact on the handling of the nuclear dossier. Another major topic to be addressed concerns North Korea, which has fuelled fresh concern with its nuclear test in May and with its ballistic missile launches.
Also due to be held on the sidelines of the G8 is a meeting of the Quartet for the Middle East (the United States, the EU, Russia and the United Nations), to which the new US Administration's commitment has imparted renewed vigour. The aim is to give a fresh boost to the peace process in the Middle East and to undescore and reiterate the need for a solution based on the principle of "two peoples, two states".
The other important innovation introduced by the Italian Presidency concerns the Outreach session with Afghanistan, its neighbouring countries and other international players of particular importance in connection with developments in the area. Innovating with regard to the initiative organized by the German presidency in 2007 (when invitations were extended solely to Afghanistan and to Pakistan), the Italian presidency's aim today is to organize a far broader exercise: the G8 foreign ministers will be meeting with representatives of Kabul first, then the debate will be expanded, initially to include the countries in the region, and subsequently also bringing in other countries involved in the stabilization effort in the area. Representatives of the main multilateral organizations operating in the region (UNAMA, UNODC, UNHCR and NATO) will also be in attendance.
The G8 working sessions devoted to the Afghan dossier will be focusing on border management and the struggle against illegal trafficking, which call above all for participation and cooperation on the part of Afghanistan's neighbours. The other working sessions in which also neighbouring and contributing countries will be involved, together with the international organizations and other entities operating in the area, will be devoted to refugees and migrants, to economic development and infrastructures, and to farming and food safety and security.
Programme
The meeting will officially get under way with a working dinner on the evening of Thursday 25 June.
Work will resume on Friday 26 June with a number of meetings devoted to Afghanistan, in connection with its geographic context, with border management and with the struggle against illegal trafficking.
Three working sessions are planned for Saturday 27 June: the first on the development of infrastructures in Pakistan, the second on assistance for refugees and on migration, and the third on farming and food safety and security.
The final news conference is due to be held in the city's Palazzo della Regione at 13.00 on Saturday.
