BRINDISI, FEBRUARY 27 – The link that binds Brindisi to the United Nations has been strengthened today by the visit of Under-Secretary-General Atul Khare to the United Nations Global Service Centre (UNGSC) headquarters, hosted since 1994 in the Apulian city. “We are here to strengthen the links between the city of Brindisi and the United Nations”, said Khare, joined by the Italian Permanent Representative to the UN, Maurizio Massari.
Welcomed by the head of the Centre, Giovanna Ceglie, the senior UN official recalled that the Centre was created in the mid-Nineties to assist the peace-keeping missions in the Balkans. “Its role and activities have now dramatically increased. It is not just in charge of peace-keeping operations, but it has a wider scope. The base provided assistance during the pandemic, for operations in Ukraine, and also to the WHO”.
Currently, the UN base in Brindisi, as confirmed by the USG, deals with the supply chain “of logistics, technology and environmental issues: all this also thanks to the Italian support”. Today, Khare and Massari also agreed on the “fundamental” role that the base could entail in the assistance to migrants. It could, in particular, “play the role of multicultural, multilingual and ethnic buffer”.
Ambassador Massari pointed out that “Italy has a high-profile inside the UN system” and “our interest is to keep it this high, and further increase it”. Massari recalled the recent mission in New York of Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who discussed the role the Brindisi base when he met UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres. He also mentioned the upcoming July summit on food security taking place in Rome, as an “acknowledgment of the fundamental role of Italy on such a key topic, because the balance between the Global North and the Global South is based on the solution of some essential problems” and “one of these problems is food safety”.
During the visit, Khare and Massari met, among others, Mayor Riccardo Rossi, the President of the Puglia Region Michele Emiliano, the Brindisi MP of Forza Italia Mauro D’Attis and the rector of Unisalento Fabio Pollice. Khare and Massari addressed a dialogue with public authorities and university students on future skills and strategies for the Brindisi base. The strengthening of the Centre, which employs 400 people, has been welcomed by local administrations: “The Region is ready to sign a strategic plan for the development of UNGSC that will allow the base to grow and evolve together with the territory” said Emiliano, speaking of “an important engagement also through direct investments from the Region, obviously in strict contact with the central government, because the Region can commit to an international organization only after the authorization of the State”. (@OnuItalia)
