With the visit to the staff of the Praesidium Task Force to protect the dam and to the personnel of the Italian company Trevi which is carrying out the work for the safety of the Mosul Dam, the first official trip of Minister Elisabetta Trenta to Iraq ended.
This is the first international visit by a member of the Italian government since the inauguration of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Madhi Mahdi with whom the head of the Dicastery had a long and cordial conversation: "Italy has always been at the side of Iraq and we will continue to be so. Our soldiers have been dealing with the formation of your forces for years. We do it with great pleasure for the security of Iraq and the world. In fact, ISIS is a danger not only for Iraqis but for all of us and, even if it seems militarily defeated, there are still very strong financial networks and a process of radicalization that also emerges in different European capitals and that must be defeated".
Since yesterday in the region, the head of the Dicastery met with the Italian soldiers engaged in training missions in Baghdad and Erbil. At Camp Dublin (Baghdad) he met men and women from Task Force Police and Task Force 44: "Italy is the protagonist in the fight against international terrorism to safeguard collective security. This is also thanks to the commitment of all of you".
At Camp Singara (Erbil) the meeting with the Contingent of Operation Prima Parthica: "Italians look at you with admiration for the fundamental contribution you are making to the rebirth of Iraq. Thank you for what you do and will do, always with intelligence, courage and humanity".
In Iraq, Minister Trenta also met with the Prime Minister of the autonomous region of Iraqi Kurdistan, Nechirvan Barzani.
50 soldiers will return from Iraq (another 100 from the mission in Afghanistan) and in the first months of 2019 we will completely close the mission at the Dam as "at this moment Italy does not need to invest in that part of the country".
Before going to Iraq, Minister Trenta was in Bahrain to take part in theIISS Manama Dialogue 2018, conference on security in the Middle East and North Africa, two areas of great interest for our country.
An appointment to which Italy was missing from 2010 and which saw the participation, among others, of representatives of France, Germany, United States, United Kingdom and Japan.
"We are back, because to be protagonists you can not only raise the walls, you have to sit at the tables, you need to know how to talk and say your own"Minister Trenta explained that speaking on the topic" Conflict and Diplomacy in the Middle East "he clearly stated that"building an effective security system for the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean region requires a plurality of interventions".
"The international community must continue to work in a cohesive, coherent and conscious manner, respecting international law, human rights and local realities”He explained in his speech during which he underlined the role played by social media in the propaganda of terrorism.
"Daesh's strategy provides us with a tangible example. Propaganda has been able to attract vulnerable individuals and radicalize them" he added.
"We must work together - even closer - and share more, with the primary objective of transforming communication from a threat element to an instrument of collective security and international stability".
During her visit to Bahrain, Minister Trenta also boarded the ship Martinengo, at the dock in the port of Manama, to greet women and men of the crew.
