G20 foreign ministers, today meeting of ministers in Matera

The relaunch of multilateral cooperation as a key in the fight against the pandemic and climate change, and for sustainable development also aimed at the most vulnerable countries: this is the heart of the Italian strategy for the G20 Foreign Affairs, scheduled today in Matera.

With a particular focus on Africa and food security, because "to rebuild together and better we must not leave anyone behind", underlined Minister Luigi Di Maio, who will be the host in the city of stones and who tonight welcomed the delegations to the Swabian Castle of Bari.

    The Foreign Ministerial - protected by strict security measures with a control room in the police station, a team of police rock climbers and a thousand units of the police forces deployed on the ground - will be divided into two sessions. The first will concern global governance. For Italy, Di Maio stressed, "the international response to Covid-19 has shown the importance of adopting a multilateral approach to face the great global challenges". With this in mind, the Italian government will be able to count on the return to the stage among the greats of the most important actor, the United States of Joe Biden, after Donald Trump's isolationist parenthesis. The harmony between Rome and Washington was confirmed once again in yesterday's face to face between Di Maio and the head of diplomacy Antony Blinken.

    In the G20 agenda there is ample space for Africa, with a focus on policies for the inclusion of young people and women, trade and energy transition. "An extraordinary land full of opportunities, which is facing crucial issues for its development in a sustainable key", Di Maio underlined. In this perspective, today Matera will also host a joint meeting of Foreign and Development Ministers (for the first time in the history of the G20) which will be followed by a specific session of the Development Ministers alone. To bring the issue of food safety to the center of the international agenda. At the end of the meeting, the Matera Ministerial Declaration will be adopted, to affirm the commitment of the G20 to reach the "zero hunger" goal by 2030.The leaders of FAO, Ifad and Pam will also participate in this meeting.

    Tomorrow, at the UN base in Brindisi, the director of the World Food Program David Beasley will co-chair a meeting dedicated to humanitarian assistance with Di Maio.

    The breadth of the G20 meeting should leave little room for addressing specific political crises, but there is no doubt that the shadow of renewed tensions between the United States and China will also hover over Matera. Foreign Minister Wang Yi confirmed that he will not physically attend the meeting, but will speak via videoconference, officially due to the commitments related to the Communist Party's centenary celebrations. Eliminating any doubt about the possibility of a possible face to face on the sidelines of the work with the US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. But the hypothesis, in any case, had been denied in recent days by the US. To demonstrate the frost on the Washington-Beijing line.