SECRETARY BLINKEN: Well, good morning, everyone. And it’s a pleasure to be here with all of our colleagues from the G7, which is really the essential coordinating committee for the world’s leading democracies. We have an opportunity today to follow up on the very good work that our leaders did in Apulia, and I want to thank again my friend and our chair Antonio Tajani for the remarkable work that Italy did and continues to do in leading the G7 this year.
I think you see through the G7 extraordinary collaboration and coordination on the critical issues of our time, including – of course – Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the ongoing challenges in the Middle East, and all the work that we’re doing together in the Indo-Pacific. The G7 strongly complements the work that’s being done here at NATO. We had a very good day yesterday with the first day of our summit, not only celebrating 75 years of the Alliance but in particular putting the Alliance in strong shape for the next 75 years, including the many issues that we face today.
The summit declaration that came out yesterday shows strong convergence among all NATO members – including, of course, the G7 members – on dealing effectively with the Russian aggression against Ukraine, on dealing effectively with other challenges to our Alliance, including those coming from the Indo-Pacific region, and in particular as well the important partnerships that we have, we’re developing, we’re strengthening with partners from beyond the NATO Alliance. But I look forward to the conversation today and the work that the G7 in particular is doing to advance all of these issues.
Antonio, again, thank you for your leadership, and over to you.
FOREIGN MINISTER TAJANI: Thank you very much, Tony. Good morning, everybody. Thank you for hosting us in this beautiful town in Washington. We are very happy. First of all, I want to welcome David as a new member of this family. Congratulations for your victory in the election. Congratulations. May we work together in the next years for strengthening the cooperation between the G7 countries. It’s important for us – the unity of this G7 – for the defense, rule of law, democracy, and freedom in the world.
Today, we debate on one of the most important points for us is the Middle East. We are working hard for peace, for the stability. Of course, our engagement in defense of Ukraine is the other priority. We will back Zelenskyy and Ukraine. We will support Ukraine. We want to achieve peace, but peace without justice is not peace. So in the Middle East, we need to work hard together. I want to thank you for your engagement.
I think the clear message to Russia and to the other (inaudible) for peace is our unity, the unity of the G7. Of course, we want to talk with the others. We want to open the door, but we need to enlarge the dialogue with other countries in the next G7. We will have many guests, but I think the – our unity is crucial if you want to pave the way for peace and defense of our values. Because the G7 is not only political organization, it’s also the house of democracy. For this, we will work together also today during this short meeting, focusing on Middle East first of all.
