(by Patrizio Nissirio) (ANSAmed) - ROME, NOVEMBER 29 - Starting on Wednesday and running through Saturday, the Italian capital will be welcoming leaders from the realms of politics, the economy, international organizations, civil society and culture for the second-ever Med Dialogues. The initiative will be a chance for an exchange of ideas and discussion on important international issues ranging from crises to major opportunities in this part of the world. The theme is 'Beyond Turmoil, a Positive Agenda', i.e. on how to be constructive in times of confusion. A number of high-level figures have been invited to Rome by the foreign ministry and the Italian think tank the Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI), including US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov, Iraqi foreign minister Ibrahim al-Jafaari, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohamed Al-Thani, the UK's Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson, and Iran's foreign policy chief Mohammed Javad Zarif.
A total of some 500 people from 55 countries have been invited. Italians taking part will include Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni, Defense Minister Roberta Pinotti, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who on Saturday, December 3, will be making closing remarks at the event. The complete program is available at: http://rome-med.org/.
ANSAmed, RAI and La Stampa will be the media partners of the event. Prior to the conference, which will open officially on Thursday, on Wednesday a series of events called 'Pre-Med' will be held. There will be roundtable discussions between entrepreneurs on both sides of the Mediterranean, a meeting of the Aspen European Strategy Group, Mediterranean energy regulators (Med-Reg) meetings and ones of security experts from the NATO Defence College. The conference will revolve around four themes: shared prosperity, shared security, migration and media, culture and civil society. An exchange of views is urgent at a time when - as Minister Gentiloni noted in presenting Med Dialogues - Donald Trump has won the US elections and migration towards Europe continues, as do conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Libya. After Med Dialogues, Italy will be at the forefront of international diplomacy in 2017 with its G7 presidency, the anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, its participation in the UN Security Council (in 2018 officially, but its activity will begin in 2017) and the Italian presidency at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). (ANSAmed).
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