Italy's Engagement in Africa and What it Means for Transatlantic Relations
12:00am - 1:00am EST
6:00am - 7:00am CET
7:00am - 8:00am EET
About this event
Remarks
- Amb. Armando Varricchio, Ambassador of Italy to the United States of America
Speaker
- Prof. Emanuela Claudia Del Re, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Italy
Moderator
- Dr. Ian Lesser, Vice President and Executive Director of The German Marshall Fund of the United States, Brussels
In October 2020, Italy announced the opening of a new embassy in Mali, after Rome established new diplomatic missions in other crucial Sahelian states, such as Niger and Burkina Faso, over the past two years. These openings are part of a renewed and greater diplomatic and political attention of Italy towards the African continent, and this attention gained further momentum over the past year. Italy’s approach to the continent is holistic, and conjugates strategies to spur local and sustainable economic development and security support and training. This new Italian engagement in the region is extremely significant also if seen through a transatlantic perspective. Rome’s efforts can help the United States and the other European countries involved in the region, strengthening further transatlantic cooperation in a continent which will be more and more relevant for European and transatlantic security amid development’s problems, environmental and demographic challenges, and the interests of powers such as China and Russia.
Prof. Emanuela Claudia Del Re is an Italian politician who has been serving as Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs and Internartional Cooperation since 2018. Sociologist and expert in international politics, she is a specialist in migration and refugees, conflicts, religious issues, minorities. Since 1990 she has conducted intense field research - supported by prestigious institutions - in conflict areas, in particular the Balkans, the Caucasus, Africa and the Middle East, where she has witnessed social and political crises and the voice of populations, especially of the victims.
This online event is part of a series of events and analyses organized as part of the GMF-IAI Fellowship on Italy launched by GMF in partnership with IAI in Rome.