Undersecretary Giorgio Silli today participated in the conference organised by the International Observatory of Cultural Diplomacy in Siena, an organisation that works to promote the Tuscan city on the international scene and to enhance its artistic, scientific, political, and economic heritage, with a view to providing meeting and dialogue opportunities.

On the sidelines of the event, Undersecretary Silli met with the President of the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (PARLATINO), Senator Rolando González Patricio, with whom he exchanged views on the prospects for cooperation between our country and the Latin American and Caribbean regions.

Undersecretary Silli stressed: "Latin America and the Caribbean are a priority for the Italian government, which is relaunching relations with both regions and with individual countries. The main objectives are to broaden the range of collaborations and synergies, extending them to the most innovative sectors, and to promote the values of peace, democracy, fundamental freedoms, and human rights, which today are being severely tested in many regions of the world."

Undersecretary Silli and President González Patricio agreed, in particular, on the importance and solidity of the existing cultural ties between Italy, Latin America and the Caribbean, also recalling the importance of Parliamentary diplomacy as a further tool to support and strengthen the growing political dialogue between Italy and the Latin American and Caribbean regions.

Lastly, Undersecretary Silli reminded President González Patricio of the centrality of instruments such as Development Cooperation, the periodic Italy-Latin America and Caribbean Ministerial Conferences, political dialogue mechanisms and the International Italo-Latin American Organisation (IILA), which all contribute to supporting the action for relaunching and expanding relations with Latin America and the Caribbean.