NEW YORK, DECEMBER 29 – Italy at the UN in 2023 will redouble efforts to reduce divisions between the global North and South and will organize a high-level humanitarian conference on the Horn of Africa. In a video message at the beginning of the year released on Twitter, Ambassador Maurizio Massari, Permanent Representative of Italy to the UN , previewed the main areas and lines of operation of Italy’s work at the United Nations in the year that is about to begin.
“The primary hope for the new year is the end of the conflict triggered by Russian aggression against Ukraine for the achievement of a fair peace, that is consistent with respect for the principles of the UN Charter. Italy will continue to work intensively to this end,” the Ambassador said.
“In New York in 2023 Italy will multiply its efforts to reduce global inequality and divisions, between our world’s North and South. Italy, for its history and geography, for its vocation for dialogue ingrained in its Dna, is a natural bridge to the countries of ‘Africa, of the grater Mediterranean, to the global South,” in Massari’s words.
From New York Italy will assert this role also as Vice President of Ecosoc, as members of the Peacebuilding Commission and Vice President of the board of UN Women – all central bodies in the UN system engaged on sustainable development, preventive diplomacy and women’s rights.
“We will also work in earnest to ensure the success of the SDGs Summit (17 Sustainable Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda) scheduled for the UNGA High Level Week in September,” the Ambassador continued.
Italy is contributing to the training in Turin of men and women officials from countries of the Global South in the preparation of their respective Voluntary National Reviews, which is each country’s presentation to the UN of its progress in the status of implementation of the SDGs.
“We are also working on organizing a High-level Humanitarian Conference on the Horn of Africa. We will be particularly engaged on the humanitarian front as Chair of the Humanitarian Segment of ECOSOC, the UN’s most important platform on humanitarian assistance,” announced Massari, who in 2023 will also chair the UN Humanitarian Liaison Working Group on Humanitarian Assistance, a forum for discussion for humanitarian action that includes more than 50 countries.
Finally, in 2023 Italy will continue its commitment to a reform of international institutions, starting with the UN Security Council within the framework of ongoing intergovernamental negotiations. Italy, as coordinator of the Uniting for Consensus group, aims “to democratically make room for regions trat, still today, are under-represented today, Africa first and foremost, without creating new situations of privilege for individual countries within the Security Council.”
