Ansamed

(ANSAmed) - ROME, NOVEMBER 21 - The vicious repression taking place in Syria and the worrying turbulence in Egypt as the election date approaches - obviously without forgetting the thorny question of Iran's nuclear activities and the outlook for stabilisation in Afghanistan: these are the dossiers into which Italy's new Foreign Minister in the Mario Monti government, Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata, will plunge as flies to Kuwait for his first foreign mission this evening.

Tomorrow, in Kuwait City, the eighth ministerial meeting of the G8/BMena-Forum for the Future will start. Launched by the G8 summit of 2004, the G8-BMena initiative consists of a non-structured partnership between the G8 nations and the members of the Arab League as well as Pakistan, Afghanistan and Turkey, aimed at sustaining democratic reforms and socio-economic progress in the region. The 'Forum for the Future', is a part of this partnership: it is an annual 'brainstorming session' between the G8's foreign ministers along with their regional partners. One of the singular characteristics of the Forum is the fact that not only government ministers take part, but also representatives of civil society: NGOs, research centres, figures from the media and the professions, as well as human rights activists.

Tomorrow's meeting, which is co-chaired by Kuwait and France, will not be able to avoid focussing on the tremors currently shaking the Arab world, which have so far seen the toppling of Tunisia's Ben Ali and of Egypt's Hosni Mubarak and the death of Libya's former dictator Muammar Gaddafi. In his first telephone contacts on arriving at Italy's foreign office - and in continuity with his predecessor, Franco Frattini - Mr Terzi has already expressed his "deep concern" at the blood being spilled on a daily basis in Syria, as well as a condemnation of the "repression" carried out by the Assad regime. As for Iran's nuclear projects, which have been attacked in the most recent IAEA report, the Italian minister has voiced the opinion that the time has come to "step up pressure" on Teheran, using fresh sanctions - a line the Italian government is ready to defend in Brussels.

For Mr Terzi - who is a highly experienced diplomat - the Kuwait City meeting means a first direct contact as Minister with his counterparts: his French Alain Juppé and with Hilary Clinton's deputy William Burns. Over recent years Mr Terzi has already become familiar with the ways of the US State Department - through his service as Italy's ambassador in Washington.(ANSAmed).