Minister Antonio Tajani addresses the United Nations General Assembly

Mr President,

last year, from this podium, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni recalled that there were 56 armed conflicts in the world: the highest number since the Second World War. Today, according to the same sources, there are 61. That is the plain truth of the figures.

Pope Leo XIV has given us a warning that Italy adheres to: we must not get used to war. Because you get used to words first, then pictures, and then victims. And when war becomes a habit, peace risks appearing to be a mirage.

We will not give in.

Against the law of the strongest, we choose the strength of the law. Against the politics of force, we choose the strength of politics. This is the message that Italy brings today to the United Nations.

This is the mission of Italian diplomacy: to build bridges, open roads, to keep dialogue alive even when it seems impossible. Working for peace, prosperity and growth, because growth brings prosperity and prosperity strengthens peace.

Ukraine, Middle East, Gulf, Sudan, the Sahel are not separate crises. Nor are trade wars, competition over artificial intelligence, hybrid attacks and their economic and social consequences. Nor is terrorism in all its many forms, which we continue to combat all over the world. These are all different fronts in a single, major transformation: the international order established after the Second World War is crumbling. It was an imperfect order. It did not prevent wars, injustices and suffering.

Today, that balance has been shattered and history - which some had declared to be over - has begun to unfold once more.

But every journey needs a destination. And our task cannot be to passively watch the world become fragmented; it must be to build a new framework of rules, responsibility and cooperation capable of governing change.

Change that will arise only from political will, from confrontation between nations, from the awareness of peoples and from the ability of multilateral institutions to rediscover a mission that is relevant to the times.

The United Nations cannot simply take note of the divisions of the present. It must aspire to imagine the future. The United Nations must recognise its limitations, overcome its paralysis and reform its mechanisms, without abandoning its deepest purpose: to be the place where conflict gives way to dialogue, confrontation to diplomacy, and fear to the search for shared solutions.

The United Nations remains the most universal place of this aspiration.

Not because it is perfect, but because no other institution can bring together such diverse interests, cultures, religions and perspectives around the same table. And it is precisely when the world is divided that the value of dialogue increases, not diminishes.

Italy believes in this institution, in its value and its central role. And it believes in peace, which remains the guiding star of Italian foreign policy. It is because of our history, our constitution, our identity.

But dialogue is not a sign of weakness, and it does not mean being neutral. Italy knows exactly where it stands: our home is Europe, our alliance is with the West, and our values are freedom, democracy and human dignity. Yet, belonging to the West is not the same as closing yourself in a fortress. It requires us to use the strength of our values to meet others, build equal partnerships and repair the strands of an international system that is in danger of plunging into chaos.

The European Union, the G7 and the West, of which we are proud to be a part, must not be perceived as walls. They must be bridges. This is the meaning of the IMEC economic and logistical corridor, which is intended to connect Europe to the great region of the Indo-Mediterranean.

The same principle guides our relationship with Africa, Italy's strategic priority and great partner of our century.

The Mattei Plan involves 18 countries and comes from a simple idea: not to decide for Africa, but to decide with Africa. It is not assistance from above, but partnerships between peers in agriculture and energy, in training, in infrastructure, in the pharmaceutical sector.

Producing vaccines in Africa saves lives, strengthens health systems, creates jobs and supports growth that brings stability.

It is in this spirit, by defending the right not to emigrate, that we are fighting against human traffickers who exploit poverty.

Agreements with countries of origin and transit serve to combat unlawful immigration, while training and integration into the labour market contribute to regular migration.

A world as complex as today can only be governed in two ways: by shared rules or by the law of the strongest.

Italy has chosen. Italy stands on the side of rules, dialogue, politics.

That is why we have condemned and continue to condemn the Russian aggression against Ukraine. We will continue to support Ukraine for as long as is necessary, but we are working towards a just peace and so that, in the long term, Russia may once again become a partner rather than a threat to Europe.

Russia, a permanent member of the Security Council, cannot shirk its responsibilities. The ceasefire is not a concession to the other side but the first step towards European security that protects everyone, including Russia.

That is why we are deeply concerned about the growing Russian hybrid threats against Europe and have expressed our full solidarity with Germany over the attack on Leipzig airport.

Peace requires openness, but also firmness. Dialogue without truth is weakness; a firm stance without dialogue is a dead end.

The same principle guides us regarding the Middle East. Peace can only be born from the solution of "two peoples, two States".

In Gaza, the truce has slowed down the fighting, not yet the suffering. Now there is not a minute to lose. The ceasefire must be consolidated, humanitarian aid must be allowed through unhindered, and the disarmament of Hamas must become a reality.

From day one, Italy has mobilised its finest efforts in the field of humanitarian aid. Through 'Food for Gaza', we have delivered food and essential supplies collected from our farmers.

We have taken in and cared for injured and vulnerable children.

We have opened our universities and research centres to young Palestinians, because a future state also needs a future ruling class.

In Lebanon, a game is being played out that affects the entire region.

The Washington Agreement of 26 June opened a door. Italy is proud to continue hosting the negotiation sessions in Rome, which have helped to keep that door open.

For decades, Italian military personnel have served to maintain peace in southern Lebanon as part of UNIFIL and contributed to the formation of the Lebanese Armed Forces. We have also recently approved new projects for the development of that area, and we will continue to play our part even after the mission's mandate has ended.

Dear colleagues,

sixty-one active conflicts mean that war is raging even far from the cameras' gaze.

And with war, the principles on which we have built 80 years of international relations are reversed: the prohibition of the use of force, humanitarian law, freedom and the safety of navigation.

Defending freedom of navigation means defending trade, jobs, growth and dialogue. Because where goods can move freely, it is harder for weapons to pass through.

The Strait of Hormuz must reopen. In the Gulf, dialogue must be revived and Iran must be asked to abandon all nuclear threats and aggressive policies towards other countries in the region. Attacks on navigation in the Red Sea must stop, just as the reckless Russian attacks on Ukrainian grain exports to Africa in the Black Sea must come to an end. These crises may seem distant, but they affect everyone's households: they drive up the prices of energy, cereals, bread, fertilisers. They affect businesses, agriculture and households.

Food security affects everyone and requires common responses. On this challenge, we work side by side with the United Nations hub in Rome, providing Italian excellence: from agri-food to satellite technologies, which allow us to reduce the consumption of soil, water and pesticides.

Food security and water security are the same battle. There can be no harvest without water. There can be no stability without a harvest. Where water disappears, hunger, conflict and migration advance.

Mr President, dear colleagues,

the choice between force and politics is not confined to wars. It concerns the economy, resources and technology. Wherever power is unchecked, there is a risk that it will prevail over humanity. Politics must once again lead the way in driving change.

We are on the cusp of a technological revolution that is already reshaping the way we live, work, produce and make decisions: the artificial intelligence revolution.

The great inventions of the past took centuries to transform the world. Artificial intelligence is achieving this in just a few years. Those who control these technologies will have a huge advantage over those who are left behind.

The risk is that new inequalities, new dependencies and new forms of power, or new forms of domination, will emerge.

Entire professions may disappear or be transformed. Falsifying and manipulating reality will become easier. Automated systems operating without human oversight may lead to extremely dangerous decisions. Pope Leo XIV, in his encyclical Magnifica Humanitas, recalled that no algorithm can decide instead of a conscience. And that any technology capable of attacking without seeing the face of the other lowers the moral threshold of conflict. Italy shares this view.

But managing innovation does not mean demonising it.

Artificial intelligence can open up possibilities that are unimaginable today: in medicine, research, education, manufacturing and environmental protection. Every major technological advance has created fears, but also opportunities and, over time, it increased prosperity.

There is no going back, nor would it be desirable. But neither can we leave the future in the hands of unregulated technology.

We do not need bureaucratic constraints that only a few would comply with. What we need, instead, is a balance between transparency, oversight, security and the protection of intellectual property. We need to share the benefits of innovation and build instruments of mutual control.

That is precisely the task of the United Nations: to define common rules before events, or the strongest, impose them.

The UN was founded in 1945 in the wake of a devastated world that had come to realise a fundamental truth: on our own, we are all doomed. Eighty-one years later, that lesson is more relevant than ever. The United Nations was born to prevent violence from becoming the only law. But in order to remain faithful to that mission, it must regain the ability to decide and, above all, to act. With this conviction, Italy will continue to campaign for a universal moratorium on the death penalty.

A battle for civilisation, for life and human dignity, which we have been waging for years right here, in this Glass Palace.

We are also at the forefront when it comes to personal freedom, women's rights and the fight against, amongst other things, the appalling practice of female genital mutilation. We must have the courage to say it: all too often, this Organisation appears powerless. For too long, its reform has been held up by conflicting interests.

Italy wants a Security Council that is more legitimate, representative and accountable to all Member States.

Not an even more exclusive club, but one of the pillars of a far-reaching reform of the United Nations, which we hope the new Secretary-General will seek to pursue, to enable the Organisation to make decisions and take action while it is still possible to influence the course of events.

Italy has always played its part and will continue to do so. We are among the largest contributors to the United Nations budget and among the leading countries in terms of military personnel deployed on international missions: we provide men, women, equipment and expertise in the service of peace, in UNIFIL and in all the missions in which we take part. The Government, the institutions and the Italian people would like to express their gratitude to all our men and women in uniform.

Mr President, dear colleagues,

my generation was born on a continent that had endured two world wars and went on to experience the longest period of peace in its history.

It was not a miracle but a choice, the result of political action. Amidst the rubble, men and women decided to pool their coal and steel, rather than use them to build new cannons.

And from that choice came an experience without equal: a Union founded on common institutions, peace, freedom, democracy, growth, human rights and the rule of law.

This is the message that Italy is conveying today in New York: peace is not a legacy secured once and for all. It is a daily responsibility.

It must be defended resolutely. It must be built with patience. It must be pursued without ever giving up.