*BREAKING NEWS* Giorgia Meloni's speech at the first session of the #G20 in South Africa

Well, thank you very much President Ramaphosa. Thank you for organizing this summit and thank you for hosting us. This G20, as many said before me, is being held in Africa for the first time, which is, in my opinion, a circumstance that makes it particularly symbolic. But at the end of the day it is impossible to talk about any model of cooperation and development for the future without Africa. Others before me talked about this spirit of Ubuntu, which is part of this nation's culture, according to which we define who we are in relation to others. I do agree, obviously, but I would like to add that in this interconnected world we live in, we regress in relation to others. We have seen this very clearly in recent years with the effects of climate change, the pandemic crisis, the unjustified Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, and I want to say that Italy is ready to work with its European and American partners to reach a just peace, as Italy is already contributing in the Middle East to fix a result which is fragile but very important. Anyway, we know these phenomena have had an impact far beyond the borders where they occurred. This is why cooperation is inevitable and this is why we need growth based on shared rules and truly fair trade relations. We know very well now the real effects of unrestrained globalization, which are very different from those who were praised. They had verticalized and concentrated wealth and multiplied poverty. It weakened democracy and social safety net, and these are mistakes we cannot repeat. The World Trade Organization needs to be rethought and it must be clear to everyone that partnerships are real only when they are equal and generate benefits for all parties involved. This is the final of the philosophy that has guided Italy through the lens of the Maté Plan for Africa. It is a new way of looking at the African continent, not as a problem but rather as an opportunity, not lecturing from top to bottom but with respect. This is an initiative that is already involved in 14 African nations, a number we intend to increase every year, and that can count on well-built synergies with the African Union, the United Nations, international financial institutions, and the European Union with the Global Gateway. The results it is producing are facts. I'm thinking of the corridor between Angola and Zambia to connect and bring prosperity to regions that are currently isolated in which we are contributing in an important way. I am thinking of the opening in Rome of the AI hub for sustainable development, which will involve hundreds of African startups in the development of artificial intelligence. I am thinking of the use of wastewater in the ambitious TANI project in Tunisia for the recovery of unproductive land. The priorities in which we are investing are shared with African nations and are real. Health, agriculture, water infrastructure, and moreover training, because nothing can be done without valuing human capital. As everybody knows, I think that nobody can really think to help the African continent simply accepting that hundreds of thousands of young African people pay traffickers to move towards Europe. That is why, together with Nigeria and in partnership with the Global Partnership of Education, we have launched a campaign to raise $5 billion and improve education of 750 million children in different nations. However, to build an Africa that is truly capable of competing on equal terms, we obviously cannot ignore the burden of debt that weighs on many of the nations of this continent. Italy has also decided to reduce the of low and middle-income countries by 50% over the next 10 years, and above all to convert the entire debt of the least developed countries into investments planned for those countries, which is a choice I consider a choice of justice and responsibility that we hope others will follow. We believe this is the right path to take in order to build development, and we can do it together with humility and, moreover, with respect for the others. I thank you.