GIORGIA MELONI, Prime Minister of Italy, spotlighting the “wound to the international framework founded on rules”, stressed that the Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine is resulting in destabilizing effects “well beyond the borders within which it unfolds”.  It contributes, “like a domino”, to reigniting other flashpoints of crisis, she said, which include democratic political systems under threat and growing geoeconomic fragmentation.  Additionally, the world is witnessing the advent of generative artificial intelligence — “although I am not certain it is correct to call it intelligence, because the intelligent being is the one who asks the questions, not the one to give answers through data processing”, she added.  That technology, unlike all other innovations throughout history, “sets the blueprint for a world in which progress is no longer meant to optimize human capabilities, but to replace them”, she said, noting AI’s potential to further verticalize and concentrate wealth.

This, she said, is why Italy, during its presidency of the Group of Seven (G7), placed this issue at the top of the agenda — to contribute to defining a global AI governance that is “capable of reconciling innovation, rights, labour, intellectual property, freedom of expression and democracy”. This complexity — compounded by profoundly interconnected global challenges — demonstrates that the problems of the Global South are those of the Global North, and vice-versa.  Urging a “firm paradigm shift in international relations”, she said this must be based on mutual respect, fellowship and concreteness. The nations of the world must recover their ability to listen to others, and thereby understand them, and she said this is why Italy held its G7 events in an open format — to show that the G7 “is not an armoured fortress, but an offering of values open to the world”. Along these lines, she detailed her country’s engagement with Africa.

“We intend not to impose, but to share,” she said of that cooperation.  In Algeria, this partnership will render fertile 36,000 hectares of desert land for crop cultivation and build a local facility for processing and production. In Kenya, a biofuel plant to be completed by the end of 2025 will sustain up to 200,000 small farming enterprises.  And, in Ethiopia, a large environmental recovery plan is in place for a lake in the country’s west.  She also underscored her country’s “objective before the tens of thousands of people who face desperate journeys to enter Europe illegally is to first guarantee their right to not have to emigrate”.  Recalling her proposal of a “global war against human trafficking” before the General Assembly in 2023, she said that defeating “the slave trade of the third millennium” is possible through joint initiatives between police forces, intelligence services and judicial authorities to “follow the money”. Italy will use this method to strengthen its cooperation with Latin America, she added, which addresses the “common denominator” tying organizations that profit from trafficking in persons and drugs.

Noting that 2025 will mark the eightieth anniversary of the UN Charter — “which enshrines the principles and values that are, at this time, being put into question by none other than a permanent member of the Security Council” — she underscored:  “No one is above the law.”  Therefore, the international community must support Ukraine’s right to defend its borders, sovereignty and freedom, and must affirm Israel’s right to defend itself from external attacks.  Israel, for its part, must respect international law and protect civilian populations.  Turning to UN reform, she stressed that this must “start with what is useful and necessary, not what is easier”.  It would be a mistake, she added, to create a new hierarchy with new permanent seats: “We want a reform that serves to represent everyone better, not to represent better only a few.”