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Ambassador Varricchio takes part in a discussion organized by the Atlantic Council on post-Covid scenarios: Italy has responded to the crisis, looking at the future in order to build more resilient societies. Collaboration with the US and the EU is fundamental.

Washington, July 7 2020. The Ambassador of Italy Armando Varricchio participated today in a discussion organized by the Atlantic Council on post-Covid-19 scenarios. In addition to the coordinator of the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Deborah Birx, the Ambassadors of the ten leading democracies in the world (so-called D-10 *) joined the discussion. For the first time, the Atlantic Council decided to open the discussion in the D-10 format to the public and broadcast the debate live on its Twitter channel.

The discussion highlighted the great collaboration between the ten countries and internationally and allowed an analysis of the different approaches adopted to contain the pandemic and fight the virus. The need to find the right balance between restrictive measures and economic reopening to exit the crisis and the change in the concept of national security were underlined.

Dr. Birx confirmed the great collaboration existing internationally on the research for a vaccine and praised the exchange of information that took place especially with some European countries (Italy in particular) which allowed to “save a lot of people in the USA”.

Ambassador Varricchio recalled how Italy was the first democracy to face Covid-19 and did so through “a transparent and collaborative approach, sharing information with the international community and thanks to the sense of responsibility and unity that distinguished the citizens’ response”. The Ambassador stressed that in addition to defending the health of citizens and the recovery of the economy, “Italy has followed the findings of science and is now looking to the future with the aim of building societies more resilient and prepared to face similar crisis in the future”.

Both Ambassador Varricchio and the Ambassador of the European Union Stavros Lambrinidis underlined the importance of the values ​​shared by democracies and agreed on the strength and cohesion of the reaction of the European Union which has demonstrated its fundamental role also in the field of health. Ambassador Varricchio strongly emphasized how collaboration between the EU and the US is fundamental to building the future of the planet.

Earlier today, the Ambassador attended a separate closed-door event organized by the US Chamber of Commerce, the main American business association, with representatives of the main US corporations interested in the situation in Italy. In this context, the Italian response to the pandemic and the government’s measures to revive the economy, industrial production and international trade were highlighted.

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* The Strategic Forum D-10 was launched by the Atlantic Council in 2014 to bring together representatives of the world’s leading democracies at the forefront of building and maintaining the democratic order based on shared rules. Separately, the Atlantic Council convenes a D-10 Ambassadors Round Table, which brings together Washington-based Heads of Mission for a regular series of consultations on global challenges. Australia, Canada, South Korea, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States and the European Union are part of the D-10.