VIDEO | G7 Development, Urpilainen (EU): “From Puglia to Rio, forward with Italy’
European Commissioner for International Partnerships to Dire: "Ensuring food and aid for victims of conflict"
PESCARA – From the G7 to the G20, from Italy to Brazil, from the Apulia Food Systems Initiative announced in Borgo Egnazia to Rio de Janeiro, where the summit on 18 and 19 November will take stock of the new Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, the promise of a global network against hunger and poverty: this is the common thread in an interview by the Dire agency with Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships. The meeting is at the Aurum, a former distillery turned conference center and “ideas factory” on the Pescara seafront. It is here that Urpilainen, 49, a Finnish Social Democrat, is taking part in the ministerial Development of the G7, the forum of the major Western powers. “Food security is a priority for the Italian Presidency” underlines the Commissioner, praising the Apulia Food Systems Initiative announced at the Borgo Egnazia summit by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “The same goes for the Brazilian G20 presidency, which has decided to launch the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty: the European Union will join this new coalition.”
In the interview “synergy” returns as a key word. The idea that support for the most vulnerable countries and communities in the world, tested by armed conflicts, climate change or the fallout from crises such as the one between Russia and Ukraine, can be guaranteed by variable geometry formats and commitments. “I believe that the Global Alliance,” Urpilainen says of the initiative promoted by Brazilian President Inacio Lula da Silva, “will provide more opportunities in the frameworks of the G7 and G20 and that it can also encourage other partners to invest more in agriculture and food production.”
It is a commitment for everyone. And for the populations held hostage by conflicts it must obviously be associated with political will, to circumvent the crossed vetoes of those who besiege and bomb. This is true in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon, at the center in Pescara of an all-Middle Eastern “humanitarian conference”. And yet it is also true elsewhere, certainly in Sudan, a country where 18 months of incursions and violence have forced over ten million people to leave their homes, sometimes taking refuge across the border, primarily in Chad.
“We need a ceasefire as soon as possible” Urpilainen says, referring to the clashes that have been pitting army units loyal to General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan against paramilitaries under the command of another general, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemeti, since April 2023. “Unfortunately, in Sudan, the most vulnerable people, women and children, are the ones who suffer first; the EU has provided a lot of humanitarian aid and has tried to support the inhabitants despite the conflict, focusing on education, health and food: however, a truce is needed to ensure the greatest possible support to innocent people, hostages of a terrible conflict”.
In Pescara, however, the discussion is not only about emergencies. The declaration adopted by the G7 ministers envisages a commitment to “mobilize” up to 600 billion from the public and private sectors for Africa within the framework of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (Gpii) project. Both the Mattei Plan developed by Italy and the Global Gateway, a cooperation tool of “Team Europe”, will contribute to the initiative. “They both share the same goals” Urpilainen emphasizes. “The goal is to ensure that more European companies invest in different sectors, from energy to transport and the digital sector, but also in people and human development, focusing on education and health”. The goal is to raise 300 billion euros by 2027. “Between 2021 and 2023, we have already mobilised 179 billion”, the Commissioner calculates. “This is an important result, achieved through synergy: thanks also to Italy”.