Discorso pronunciato dall’Ambasciatore Maurizio Massari, Rappresentante Permanente dell’Italia presso le Nazioni Unite, al Dibattito plenario informale dell’Assemblea Generale come follow-up del Rapporto ‘Our Common Agenda’ del Segretario Generale – 4th Thematic Cluster on the theme “Protecting our planet and being prepared for the future” —
Mr. Vice President, dear Colleagues,
Italy aligns itself with the statement delivered by the European Union and wishes to add the following remarks in its national capacity.
With regard to the situation in Ukraine, Italy, together with its EU partners and allies, has made its position clear, through statements and consistent acts, on the aggression being conducted by Russia. As a main sponsor of the Resolution adopted yesterday by the emergency special session of the GA, Italy stands firmly in support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and in full solidarity with the Ukrainian people.
As for today’s consultation, this cluster is essentially about one main element: building a sustainable future. With this in mind, Italy wishes to share its considerations on the strengthening of international cooperation for the protection of our planet, the engagement with younger generations and the reinforcement of global health architecture.
On climate action, we share the sense of urgency stemming from the alarming conclusions presented in the latest IPCC report. We fully support the efforts of the Secretary General on climate action and urge all Member States and non-governmental stakeholders to plan and implement adequate responses to address the triple planetary crisis.
All Member States should rise their climate ambitions for 2030 within the UNFCCC framework. Italy, together with its EU partners, is contributing to the works leading up to COP27, for a successful outcome in line with COP26 results. We also welcome the Secretary General’s proposal to convene a Leaders’ Meeting ahead of the global stocktaking in 2023.
We look forward to the adoption of a strong post-2020 biodiversity framework and we commend the steps undertaken to define a legally binding international agreement on plastic pollution. We also support an effective follow-up to the Food Systems Summit.
We welcome the invitation by the Secretary General to account for the interest of future generations in national and global decision-making: Italy organized last year a global youth summit on climate change in connection with the Pre-COP in Milan, called Youth4Climate. We are now working, in close collaboration with the UN System, to make of this initiative a permanent forum.
We are still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and global health remains a top priority. The WHO global vaccination target of 70% of the population of each Member State, endorsed also in the Rome G20 Leaders Declaration, has to remain our collective priority. Italy is fully committed to accelerate global vaccination and we will continue to donate doses to the most vulnerable countries and contribute to the Covax Facility.
We fully support the ongoing processes in Geneva to strengthen the multilateral global health architecture, including with the constitution of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body and the ongoing WHO-strengthening and International Health Regulation review processes. These processes are connected to the recommendations proposed by the Secretary General in the Common Agenda and we will therefore remain actively engaged to contribute to their successful outcomes.
I thank you.
