HomeLa Riflessione di Giancarlo Elia Valori

Speech in Israel on the occasion of the presentation of Giancarlo Elia Valori’s book Geopolitics of the New Middle East

Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, I am very glad to come to the beautiful city of .... and to participate in this meeting. First of all, I wo

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Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,

I am very glad to come to the beautiful city of …. and to participate in this meeting. First of all, I would like to extend my personal warm thanks to Ambassador Avi Pazner, author of the excellent foreword of my book, and to all those who have made it possible for my considerations on international politics to be brought together in a book that is so dear to me! I wish to express my heartfelt thanks to those who invited me to this happy event.

Today’s world is undergoing major changes never seen in a century. On the one hand, the profound development of globalisation and information technologies has led to unprecedented development and integration in all countries of the world, while – on the other hand – it has caused unbalanced development and a growing gap between rich and poor.

Some people have seized the opportunity to support populism and protectionism in an attempt to make the world go back to the isolation of the past. However, the globalized world cannot go back to the past and the civilisations that have already met cannot be isolated from each other.

What we need to do is to allow different civilisations to communicate with each other, and not to come into conflict. We need to enable different countries to cooperate, and not to confront each other. This is to make people of all countries friendly to each other, and not hostile. Culture, knowledge of history, and in-depth study of the development of international relations play an irreplaceable role as a link between the hearts and minds of people and citizens.

In Italy there is Rome, the cradle of law, which was the first to extend its citizenship to the world. Italians have always believed that individuals are the foundation of Peoples. They are – so to speak – like university students and they have been so since ancient times, as representatives of both Eastern and Western civilisations.

In Palestine there is Israel, and Jerusalem irradiates the planet with its three faiths and is the centre of the world. Israel and Italy have different cultural backgrounds, but their spiritual pursuits lead to the same goals: peaceful cooperation, openness and tolerance, mutual learning, democracy, mutual benefits and benefits for others.

Italy and Israel play a major role in strengthening the dialogue between civilisations and in promoting cultural diversity in the world, as the first duty is to provide solutions to the problems of world peace and development.

Both countries must continue to play their important roles in cultural exchanges between East and West. This year marks the 72nd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Israel and Italy. Since then, cultural exchanges have always been the basic foundation and engine for the development of our relations.

The reason why the Italian people have great sympathy for the Israeli people is because of their understanding and love for Italian culture and their contribution to the promotion of cultural exchanges between our two countries, and vice versa.

We hope that the two countries will seize the many opportunities for exchange that the gradual improvement of the well-known pandemic crisis affords us, in view of further deepening the all-round cooperation between the two countries in the field of human sciences, continually enhancing the friendship between the two peoples, and creating a model of exchange and dialogue of the Mediterranean civilisation.

We need to adopt innovative thinking to advance Italy-Israel cooperation in every field. In today’s world, science and technology are progressing with each passing day. Information is highly developed and the definition of culture has greatly expanded, thus intersecting and influencing economics, commerce, education, tourism, art, health, sports, cinema, television, cuisine, etc.

Curiosity pertains especially to our young people, and many of them would like to learn each other’s languages, well beyond the easily used lingua franca. So they have a strong interest in Israeli and Italian cultures.

For my part, I hope that the two countries will create and establish a concept of great culture, innovate boldly, and make the most of the greatest potential for cooperation, in view of building a common platform and performing successfully in every sector, so that both countries may bring more tangible benefits to their citizens.

I am certain we are able to mobilise local forces, not only governmental ones, to give strong momentum to the joint promotion of Israeli-Italian cooperation. It focuses on the local area and its expression of exchange is in the private sector.

I often go to some Italian cities, even to small villages and towns, and I meet many people who know Israel, even if they have never been there, but even people who do not know much about your country are eager to learn and willing to establish further contacts to know more. For example, there are notable examples of twinning between Italian and Israeli cities: Montecatini Terme-Tiberiade (Tverya) (1979), Pisa-Acri (Akko) (1988), Teramo-Rishon LeZion (1988), Novellara-Neve Shalom (Mateh Yehuda) (1994), Milan-Tel Aviv (1997), Verona-Ra’anana (1998), Como-Netanya (2004), Rome-Jerusalem (2004), Turin-Haifa (2005), Lugo-Yoqne’am Illit (2006) , Sorrento-Eilat (2017), etc.

We must take further advantage of flexibility, pragmatism and win-win local cooperation, as well as promote various forms of exchange and cooperation between local provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities in Italy and Israel, and strengthen mutual understanding and friendship between both peoples, as well as strengthen the public basis to improve Israel-Italy relations.

We need to build ever more bridges of communication between the hearts of the two peoples, so that Italians and Israelis have more knowledge in their hearts, and more tacit understanding and closeness. In this regard, the study of foreign affairs and the analysis of international politics helps significantly.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I sincerely hope that this meeting will be a complete success and a building block in the construction of ever better relations between our two countries.

May the colours of our flags be reflected in the Mediterranean, radiating an even more dazzling shine surrounded by the blue of our shared waters.

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