Italy, 2009

This morning, like all

other members of the Assembly, I listened with great

interest to President Obama’s statement. The President

spoke from the heart with great idealism and called

upon all of us to shoulder our common responsibility to

secure the future of the world by bringing about real

change. He expressed feelings, hopes and goals that I

share and that I also intended to express here.

However, since he said those things so well, I shall

forgo that part of my statement and confine myself to

reporting on the outcomes of the L’Aquila summit of

the Group of Eight (G-8), over which I had the honour

to preside.

The L’Aquila summit brought together in that

grief-stricken city the representatives of 28 countries

representing more than 80 per cent of the global

economy. Our first order of business was to continue

the work being done on banking and financial market

regulations, which will again occupy us in two days’

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time at the Pittsburgh summit. We believed it crucial to

ensure solid and lasting growth. Economic activity

must once again be based on the principles of equity

and transparency. The new development model should

also be based on open markets and a rejection of

protectionism so that the poorest countries can benefit

fully from the growth opportunities provided by

international trade.

After L’Aquila, we decided to revive the Doha

negotiations with a view to concluding them by 2010.

Our trade ministers have already met in India to

provide practical follow-up to that decision. Pittsburgh

will be an important opportunity to reaffirm the

political commitments undertaken at L’Aquila.

Progress was also made in the area of climate

change. The major economies reached an agreement to

limit global warming to two degrees Celsius above pre-

industrial levels. The common front to combat climate

change was reaffirmed by the broad participation in the

meeting held here yesterday at the initiative of the

Secretary-General. I thank him for the leadership that

he demonstrated on that occasion — a quality so

essential to the success of the Copenhagen summit.

L’Aquila reaffirmed a clear and fundamental

concept that I wish to reiterate today. Overcoming the

challenge of climate change will require commitment

on the part of all actors in the global economy, without

exception.

In the area of food security, we decided to

establish a $20-billion fund for agricultural

development and the fight against world hunger. The

effort to restore agriculture’s place at the heart of the

international agenda is a common thread running

through the G-8 summit, the Pittsburgh summit of the

Group of 20 (G-20) and the food security summit that

the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United

Nations will host in Rome in November.

Too often in the past, the financial assistance

allocated to developing countries has failed to reach

those for whom it was intended. That is why we have

decided that such financing should be invested in the

implementation of concrete projects primarily targeting

agricultural infrastructure. The beneficiary countries

must also do their part. If it is to be effective,

assistance should be directed only to those countries

that promote democracy, are committed to good

governance, respect human rights and protect women

and children.

Finally, we discussed the need to firmly counter

stock-market speculation and the manipulation of the

energy, commodities and food resource markets. This

is of the utmost importance. Speculation in food

products — wheat, rice and soy — has led to serious

crises, in particular on the African continent, where the

elderly and children have been dying of starvation. In

turn, dramatic fluctuations in oil prices have

contributed to financial and economic instability. Why?

Because the price of crude oil has risen from $70 to

$150 a barrel, only to drop to $32 dollars and then

bounce back to $70, despite a nearly 2 per cent

decrease in world consumption over the past year. We

know only too well that such fluctuations are caused by

speculation, whereby a barrel of oil is bought and sold

four to six times before it reaches the end user. And it

is precisely the interest of speculators that drives up the

price of a barrel.

Thus, it is an absolute priority that the futures

market be more strictly regulated. In our view, we

should also consider a global system of strategic

commodity reserves in order to nip in the bud any

speculative tendencies. Impartial specialized agencies,

such as those of the United Nations, should also be

empowered. Finally, the fight against speculation must

also ultimately include the abolition of tax havens.

Much has been done to eliminate existing havens, but

we must also strengthen the monitoring role of the

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in

order to fight attempts to create new ones.

In a nutshell, those are the main outcomes of the

L’Aquila summit. The crisis from which we are

emerging makes it incumbent upon all of us to address

the issue of effective governance. The G-8 still has a

major role to play in geopolitical, non-proliferation and

development issues, as confirmed at L’Aquila.

Together with the G-20, which is now developing

alongside it, we need to coordinate our actions to

tackle global economic governance and open it up to

all major countries wishing to contribute. In doing so,

we must, of course, respect the central role of the

United Nations, beginning with its most representative

organ, the General Assembly.

As for the United Nations, we must also reform

the Security Council to make it more effective and

representative. Let me strike a note of caution,

however. Adding new national permanent members

would simply increase the sense of exclusion of all

countries that contribute actively to international peace

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and security and of those that could assume growing

responsibilities in the future.

Finally, during the past century, the international

community faced even more tragic crises than it does

today. History shows that no crisis is insurmountable,

but we must be positive, resolute and, above all,

united. As President Obama recalled this morning, we

are all going to have to roll up our sleeves. That is the

key message sent from L’Aquila. Only through

common commitment will we be able to restore the

consumer confidence that is so indispensable to a

renewal of spending and investment. Only through

common action will we be able to overcome a crisis

whose roots lie also in the psychological soil of fear as

the determining factor.

If we are willing and able to do this together, our

efforts will be successful and we will manage to limit

the depth and the duration of the crisis. I have no doubt

that we will succeed. I am absolutely sure of that.

I thank representatives for their attention, and

offer my best wishes for their work.