Trade must be a driver of growth for richer countries and the rest of the worldso we must respond to the frictions that hinder global trade and sustainable growth. With this spirit, Calabria, tomorrow and Wednesday, hosts the meeting of the G7 trade ministers of which Antonio Tajani is the president. A sort of “general states of world trade” open not only to the usual group of the most advanced economies, but also to partners considered strategic from other continents: India and Vietnam, New Zealand and South Korea, Turkey and Brazil, potential markets of billions of people.
This is the third time that the G7 has met in this format and Tajani wanted to confirm this line of work also because Italy, he recalled, generates 40% of its GDP through exports. The discussion between political leaders, business groups (the B7) and international organizations will be based on four “crucial guidelines for the future of our economies”, the Minister of Foreign Affairs stressed: “Strengthening the multilateral trade system through WTO reform, ensuring equal conditions on global markets, encouraging environmental sustainability in trade, improving resilience and economic security”. Particular attention will be paid to the issue of “freedom of navigation”, in light of the disruptions to the routes on the Suez Canal and the Red Sea caused by Houthi attacks on Western merchant ships. A phenomenon that risked paralyzing ports was contained thanks to the EU military mission Aspides, created at the instigation of Italy, Tajani recalled. Rome is also looking to the Indo-Pacific as an outlet, a key region for global supply chains. The stone guest of the G7 will be Beijing, which with its industrial overcapacity and production subsidies remains one of the thorniest dossiers. Tajani was clear on this: “China is a competitor that often offers unfair competition, for example in sectors such as steel”, so Italy and the EU have the right to “defend their production”. At the same time, we must not “close” with the Dragon, because trade with such a large economy can also bring benefits. It is “a game of chess”, the deputy prime minister defined it. The ministerial program in Calabria will also involve the port of Gioia Tauro, the first in Italy for goods traffic and the eighth in Europe. A starting point, Tajani observed, to “look at the Mediterranean increasingly as a sea of trade and not as a cemetery for migrants”.
The port will be visited by ministers and the head of Italian diplomacy will also present the humanitarian initiative ‘Food for Gazà’ for the occasion. With the ministerial meeting in Reggio and Villa San Giovanni, Calabria will host a G7 event for the first time. A choice made not by chance but precisely to once again valorize a region of the South (after Campania with the G7 Foreign Affairs in Capri and the leaders’ summit in Puglia) and its great potential for development. “Calabria and Southern Italy – Tajani underlined – will be the world economic capital for two days”.