Rome, 28 June 2021 – Roman day for the US Secretary of State Antony Blink started in the morning in the Vatican, for a meeting with Pope Francis but also with time for a “special” tourist visit to the Sistine Chapel. The American secretary then attended the ministerial meeting of the Global anti-Isis coalition who co-chairs in Rome with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luigi Di Maio, while in the afternoon he will be at Palazzo Chigi to meet the Prime Minister Mario Draghi.
A visit in which the reports of friendship between the USA and Italy. Blinken said the United States is “grateful” for the “leadership of Italy“in the challenges that are at the center of the” global agenda “, such as the fight against climate change and the fight against Covid, to rebuild our economies and fill inequalities. Between Italy and the US there is one”deep cooperation“based on” a strong alignment on values ”, while the US Secretary of State also recalled that Di Maio had been the first exponent of foreign diplomacy to visit Washington after Joe Biden’s inauguration and praised Italy as an example of solidarity in the struggle to “combat inequalities” in the access of different countries to vaccines against Covid.
The US commitment against Isis
Blinken, at the opening of the ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition against Isis, announced sanctions against Ousmane Illiassou Djibo, one of the leaders of ISIS in Africa and labeled a “global terrorist”, and the allocation of additional 436 million dollars to support displaced people in Syria. Blinken then made it clear that a target for the US is guaranteed that the “lasting defeat” of Isis it also translates into effectively countering the ISIS threat outside Iraq and Syria.
For this reason, the head of American diplomacy, in the wake of what Di Maio announced in his speech regarding greater attention in the sub-Saharan area, asked to use today’s discussion to “expand the plans of the Coalition” to to face ISIS also in Africa.
About the crisis in Syria “a political solution is needed”, so that the Syrian people can find peace, said the US Secretary of State: “The imperative and the greatest objective is to reach a lasting peace, which Syria needs. We want to create the foundations for a different future “.
On the question of 10 thousand ISIS fighters still detained in Syria “continue to ask the countries of the region – said Blinken – including coalition partners, to repatriate, rehabilitate and where necessary prosecute their citizens”. In this context, added the head of US diplomacy, “Italy has distinguished itself as one of the few Western European countries willing to return its citizens from the region” and, Blinken recalled, “recently repatriated a foreign fighter woman with her children “.
Respect to US raid carried out yesterday against pro-Iranian militias on the border between Syria and Iraq and the consequent criticism of the Iraqi premier, Blinken replied that “with yesterday’s actions we have shown that the President Biden is ready to act and to defend national interests, we hope that the message is clear“.
The meeting with the Pope and the Sistine Chapel
The morning meeting between Pope Francis and US Secretary Antony Blinken lasted about 40 minutes, an audience that “took place in a cordial atmosphere“and in which for the pontiff it was” an opportunity to remember the journey he made in 2015 and to express his affection and attention to the people of the United States of America ”, said Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni.
In the meeting Blinken “thanked Pope Francis for his long-standing leadership on the need for take care of the environment and address the climate crisis “. He then” reaffirmed the commitment of the United States to work closely with the Holy See to address global challenges and the needs of the less fortunate in the world, including refugees and migrants“State Department spokesman Ned Price said.
In a tweet, the US secretary then added that he appreciated the conversation he had previously had with the Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parollin, “prime minister” of the pontiff, and with his counterpart Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the secretary for Relations with the States of the Holy See. “We have emphasized the continuous cooperation aimed at promoting ours shared values and address humanitarian crises around the world “.
Along with institutional commitments, Blinken had the opportunity to make one special tourist visit in the Sistine Chapel. “Today I had the great pleasure of visiting the Vatican, including the beautiful Sistine Chapel,” Blinken wrote on Twitter posting his photos while admiring Michelangelo’s vault with this comment: “The spiritual atmosphere, divine art, and the impressive architecture left me speechless. Really stunning“.
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