On December 8, in the General Assembly Hall, the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations in New York organized a high-level event during which over 150 UN officials and senior executives, ambassadors, and representatives of accredited countries celebrated the Italian cuisine, the 70th anniversary of Italy’s membership in the United Nations, and paid warm tribute to the Permanent Representative of Italy, Ambassador Maurizio Massari, whose term in New York is drawing to a close.
As images of Italy’s 70 years in the UN were scrolling as a digital exhibition with photos from the ANSA’s historical archive, Ambassador Massari reaffirmed Italy’s full commitment to multilateralism and the UN system, in support of the reform processes undertaken by the Secretary-General and in line with the participatory, democratic, and more representative vision of the Organization promoted by Italy together with the members of the Uniting for Consensus group.
Recalling the words of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella on the UN as a valuable and irreplaceable tool for peace and universal cooperation, Massari concluded his speech by commenting: “The future of the United Nations will depend on what Member States want for the Organization, and I am optimistic about this because we all, regardless of geographical or regional divisions, have a common interest in a more stable, prosperous, and secure world.”
During his tenure at the UN, Ambassador Massari has served, among other things, as Chair of the First Committee of the 80th Session of the General Assembly, Vice-Chair of the 79th Session of the General Assembly and ECOSOC, member of the Executive Committee of UN Women and the CERF Advisory Group.
The event on December 8 belongs to a series of initiatives organized by the Permanent Mission of Italy to the UN in New York for the Week of the Italian Cuisine in the World, as part of Italy’s bid to be included in UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list and ahead of the General Assembly debate on December 15, when the resolution proposed by Italy establishing November 16 as International Mediterranean Diet Day will be adopted.
