I wish to thank Prime Minister Shmyhal for choosing to participate in this conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine, a commitment I had personally made to President Zelensky when I visited Kyiv at the end of February. Like so many other commitments Italy has made, it has kept this one too.

Before attending the conference, we have had a bilateral meeting to take stock of the status of our cooperation. I have reiterated to the Prime Minister that Italy will continue to do its part to provide Ukraine with comprehensive support, in political, military and humanitarian terms and also with regard to reconstruction, which is a subject for today with regard to certain strategic infrastructure, especially in a number of liberated areas, but is also and above all for tomorrow.

As I said in Kyiv, and I shall say it again here, for us, talking about Ukraine’s reconstruction means betting concretely on victory and on an end to the conflict, because I am certain that the future of Ukraine will be a future of peace, it will be a future of well-being and it will be an increasingly European future. 

We will continue to do our part, not only at bilateral but also at multilateral level. Among other things, I have mentioned that next year, in 2024, Italy will hold the rotating presidency of the G7, so we will have an increasingly central role which we intend to use to support this cause, which is a cause for freedom not only for the Ukrainians but also for us, and this is always worth remembering.

We will continue to provide all the support necessary. We will also continue to provide our support for the ten-point peace plan presented by President Zelensky. We believe in the possibility of a diplomatic solution to this conflict, provided that, as I have said many times and shall say again, the surrender of Ukraine, a country under attack, is not considered to be the solution to the conflict, as this would be unjust and would create a world where the law of the strongest wins over the force of the law, and this is something else we have said before and is always worth reaffirming; such a world would not be in anyone’s interest. So this is something else we are continuing to work on, but we are convinced that peace can only be reached when Russia ceases hostilities and the attacks against civilian targets.

The Prime Minister has thanked Italy for the electricity generators that we helped supply to the Ukrainian people. The Prime Minister told us “thanks also to Italy’s support, our civilians, our citizens, have got through the winter”, because what Russia is doing by systematically striking civilian infrastructure, energy infrastructure, is an attempt to make the population surrender with cold and hunger. We have defended that population. I think Italy should be proud of that.

We recognise Ukraine’s legitimate European aspirations, which we support. We believe Ukraine’s future must be a future with an increasing ability to become part of the dynamics of the European institutions; it is an outpost of security on the European continent and I believe the most intelligent way to thank Ukrainians for what they are doing is to speed up the possibility of them becoming part of the European institutions, a possibility that, as you know, Italy has always supported.

Among other things, we must acknowledge the huge efforts the government in Kyiv has made, despite finding itself at war, to reform its system, bringing it closer and closer to the targets required by the Commission. I therefore think it is essential that we recognise those efforts today, speeding up and starting European Union accession negotiations as quickly as possible.
We want to play a leading role not only at political level but also by involving private entities and businesses, with our know-how, as indeed this conference demonstrates. Ukraine’s reconstruction concerns us all because it is a piece of European reconstruction and I believe everyone must do their part. 

I also wish to say to the entrepreneurs we have invited here today, and to the many others who are not here but who we will be involving, that investing today in Ukraine’s reconstruction is not risky. From my, from our, point of view, investing in Ukraine’s reconstruction is one of the most prudent and forward-looking investments you can make at this time. Thanks again to the Prime Minister and to the members of his government who have come to visit us and, as I have had the opportunity to reiterate, you can always count on us.

[Courtesy translation]