G20, Mattarella's toast: "The world is watching us for a better planet"

2021-10-30T20:00:56.469Z

"The eyes of billions of people, of entire peoples, are focused on us and on the results we will be able to achieve. We must not hand over to those who come after us a planet furrowed by conflicts, whose resources have been squandered, whose ecosystem is been compromised for the selfishness of those who have been unable to combine the legitimate aspiration for economic and social growth with the need to protect what does not belong to us. Because in turn we have received it from previous generations ". This is the appeal that the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, addresses in the toast on the occasion of the lunch offered at the Quirinale in honor of the Heads of State and Government and other personalities participating in the G20 Summit. "It's up to us - says the Head of State - theundertaking to make a decisive turn to overcome these burdens. The moment is now. I am confident that our countries will respond to the appeal that comes from world public opinion. We will be up to it if we manage to rediscover the thread of collaboration and the sense of responsibility that today's growing interdependence between peoples and nations of the planet imposes on us ". Mattarella again strongly emphasizes that" multilateralism and cooperation represent the only concrete and effective responses to the difficulties and tensions that cross the planet ". The pandemic has made it dramatically evident that no one - regardless of the size of its economy - is able to tackle, alone, problems that they concern the general condition of humanity ".For this reason, if "in recent years global governance based on an order based primarily on respect for international law and the consolidation of the rule of law has been weakened, a new cycle of dialogue and trust must be opposed to this trend!". After all, "in this year that saw the Italian Republic exercise the Presidency of the G20, our countries - highlights Mattarella - have worked on the reconstruction of a socio-economic fabric that the pandemic threatened to tear deeply. It is a work of reconstruction that cannot stop! It is a new starting point to look to for a more intense season of collaboration ". The challenges are not lacking. "It is people and their lives that should be at the center of our concerns.Priority issues such as the fight against poverty and the reduction of the gap between the North and South of the world to achieve the goal of eliminating it, food security and the sustainability of food systems, health and education "." Above all - recalls the Head of State - there is an emergency of climate change, on which we have tried to maintain a high level of ambition in order to provide adequate responses. We are also aware of how this phase is affected by the need to address and resolve issues of great importance such as the reform of the international trade system and the digital transition ". Finally," the very serious emergency situation in Afghanistan ", with the G20 called to play the role of "coordination forum,in support of the necessary work of the United Nations, to avert the risk of a humanitarian catastrophe ".