Protection of the planet is an
essential goal, President Sergio Mattarella told the UN General
Assembly Monday.
"The 2030 Agenda of the United Nations, with its Sustainable
Development Goals, has the merit of having provided a concrete
horizon for their realisation, indicating a path that all Member
States are committed to pursuing in the interest of the peoples,
which passes first and foremost through the preservation of the
planet, the place they inhabit," he said.
"Having reached the second half of the timetable for the
implementation of the Agenda, a decisive acceleration towards
the achievement of our common goals seems unavoidable, as
reaffirmed last September during the last UN Summit on the
subject".
The Italian president also said that: conflicts devour
resources, stressing the need to build peace; that there should
be no more 19th century visions and power drives; and that
freedom of the press as essential to maintain democracy.
"Peace and development have crossed destinies. There cannot be
one without the other. We live in an era with the greatest
number of conflicts since the end of World War II, which devour
enormous resources in the arms race, taking them away from
development. The call to build the necessary conditions for
peace and to end conflicts could not be more necessary and
urgent," he said.
"It is on the basis of this approach that Italy deploys its
action, with firm determination to support the instruments of
dialogue based on that principle of multilateralism that we see
today so dramatically called into question by Russian aggression
against Ukraine and by the consequences of the unresolved
Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"We cannot continue to linger on relations between countries
based on 19th century visions and legacies, on power drives.
"We face today a further danger that undermines the relationship
of trust with institutions and between countries, that of
disinformation. Last Friday was World Press Freedom Day, which
warns, every year, of the value of freedom of information for
the maintenance of democracy".
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