"Going from the NATO summit to a new planning model for the South. For the first time, after decades, the Alliance, in addition to looking to the east, will therefore begin to look also at the Mediterranean, an area of great interest for Italy, where risks of different nature and entity are intertwined, first of all the uncontrolled flow of migrants".
Thus the Minister of Defense, Elisabetta Trenta, at the end of the NATO ministerial which took place yesterday and today in Brussels.
The 29 NATO defense ministers accepted Italy's request, formalizing the advanced planning for the South, that is, the launch of a model for studying the new threats arriving from the Mediterranean, shifting the horizons of the Alliance.
The proposal had been put forward by Italy on several occasions, in particular at the last summit in July.
"We have committed ourselves to the Alliance to extend its 360 degree approach"Said the minister, who then added:"That achieved is an excellent result that this government has managed to achieve thanks to the commitment and professionalism of our delegation in Brussels, Ambassador Claudio Bisogniero first of all and our military, our diplomats and our civilian staff employed at NATO".
Yesterday the holder of the Dicastery signed a declaration of intent to cooperate in the field of maritime drones. A first step that will allow Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain, Germany, Greece, Italy, Holland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the United States to pool resources and capabilities to create systems to face common challenges that could arise in the maritime sector. An initiative that will make it possible to exploit economies of scale to reduce costs, allowing for an increase in defense budgets.
Among the issues at the heart of the Brussels summit was the progress made in implementing the decisions taken at the NATO summit last July, including a fairer burden-sharing. NATO-EU cooperation and a meeting of the NATO-Georgia Commission are also on the agenda.
On the sidelines of the NATO Ministerial, Minister Trenta met with US Defense Secretary James Mattis. A cordial conversation focused on common goals and Libya. He also met colleagues Mihai Fifor (Romania), Margarita Robles Fernandez (Spgana), Mariusz Błaszczak (Poland), Florence Parly (France).
On his arrival, Minister Trenta greeted the Italian delegation and the Italians working for NATO, thanking them for the work they do.
