Diplomacy can help diversify energy supplies - Mattarella

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 21 - President Sergio Mattarella on Wednesday stressed the role Italy's diplomatic network can play in the process of diversifying energy supplies to end the nation's reliance on Russian gas in a message to the conference of Italian ambassadors at the foreign ministry in Rome.
    "The conflict (in Ukraine) has shown a dangerous side in the area of global economic relations," Mattarella said.
    "I am certain that, in this situation, the diplomatic corps will continue to facilitate the effort to diversify energy-supply sources that we are strongly engaged in and, at the same time, accompany our productive system as it looks to the wider world, something that our future prosperity depends on to a significant degree".
    The head of State reiterated his condemnation of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
    "Russia's brutal attack on Ukraine has thrown into doubt the rules that we based our peaceful coexistence on - an order based on the respect of international law," Mattarella said.
    "At this time in history, the diplomatic service has the difficult task of protecting this resource, which stands on the pillars of the process of European integration and the multilateral system represented by the United Nations, as well as our solid position within the framework of the Atlantic alliance". He also lambasted Tehran's brutal repression of the protests there, saying that Iran has gone beyond "every limit".
    Mattarella did not attend the conference as planned as he has contracted COVID-19. (ANSA).