It is necessary to defend the role of international trade as a “tool for global dialogue” by opening the dialogue with the world’s economic superpowers. However, there are some rules that need to be adjusted: an essential step so that all companies can play “on a level playing field”. On the issue of the fight against unfair competition, in defense of its companies, the Italian government is committed on the front line. This is the fundamental message that the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani launched to the international community but also to our domestic production system, opening as host the G7 between Reggio Calabria and Villa San Giovanni. A concept reiterated in the presidency statement released at the end of the day. A summit enriched by a top-level meeting of the B7, the economic forum led by Emma Marcegaglia. The former president of Confindustria himself reiterated that no one can imagine relaunching growth by returning to protectionist policies.
An appeal fully welcomed by the head of the Farnesina, convinced that, despite international shocks, wars and great uncertainty on the global economic scenario, trade is a value to be defended. Tajani clarified that it is not just about economics: “From this Calabrian G7, the first international summit after the attack on Trump, a message of peace can be sent out”. However, sWe need “new shared rules” within the World Trade Organization, capable of creating an international market that is “increasingly open, free and safe, equal, a driver of growth, well-being and peace.” And above all, fair and sustainable: an objective that must be pursued not by “dug in the defensive” but by promoting dialogue and discussion with major global partners, starting with this meeting.
Just scroll through the list of “external” guests at the G7 to understand how important the dialogue with the giants of the world economy is for the Italian presidency. Along with representatives from Canada, the USA, France, Germany, Great Britain and Japan, the resort overlooking the Strait also hosted top executives from India, Brazil, Turkey, Vietnam, South Korea and New Zealand. «We calculated that all together the G7 members and host countries represent 54% of the world’s GDP and 34% of the world’s population.. More than half of the world’s GDP and a third of the world’s population”, Tajani noted. On the day of Roberta Metsola’s re-election to the European Parliament – in his opinion “an excellent message to the markets”, Valdis Dombrovskis, Executive Vice-President of the Commission and EU Commissioner for Trade, arrived from Brussels. Tajani implicitly reminded a European Union that is too often Franco-German driven how crucial it is for Brussels to pay attention to the southern front and Africa. “For two days – he proudly added, addressing the delegations – Calabria, a beautiful region in the center of the Mediterranean, will be your home and the heart of the world economy”.
A scenario that is however affected by tensions with China, as a concerned German vice-chancellor and minister of economy recalled Robert Habeck: «The obstacles to free trade are becoming geopolitically important, US-China relations, as well as those between Europe and China, are at the center of the global political debate». Finally, it is worth mentioning the debut on the international scene of the new British Trade Minister, the recently appointed Labour Party member, Jonathan Reynolds: «We are looking – he explained – for a closer, more mature and more balanced relationship with our friends in the European Union, which is our closest and largest trading partner». In short, the beginning of a turning point in relations after Brexit.
Photo Attilio Morabito