Washington DC (June 13, 2023) – The visit of the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Antonio Tajani, to Washington ended yesterday.
The mission to the U.S. capital, in which Minister Tajani was assisted by the Ambassador of Italy, Mariangela Zappia, began yesterday morning, June 12th, with the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Upon arrival at Arlington, the Deputy Prime Minister made statements to the Italian press about the passing of the former Prime Minister, Sen. Silvio Berlusconi.
Next, a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, took place at the Department of State. As reported in the joint press conference, which began with the Secretary of State’s condolences for the passing of Silvio Berlusconi, there was full agreement on all the foreign and security policy issues discussed in the cordial meeting, from the war in Ukraine, the Balkans and stability in the Mediterranean, from Libya and Tunisia to the Middle East and the Indo-Pacific. Financial assistance to Tunisia, an issue on which Secretary Blinken and Minister Tajani focused, was also the subject of a subsequent telephone call of the latter with the Director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva.
Before leaving again for Italy, Deputy Prime Minister Tajani visited the Embassy of Italy in Washington for a ceremony in memory of Silvio Berlusconi, where the flags of the Embassy were raised to half-staff, and a subsequent meeting with all Embassy staff.
