G7 Italy-digi

Investing in innovative Italy
Dario
Franceschini
Minister of Cultural
Heritage and Tourism
Italy
Dario Franceschini is Italy’s
Minister of Cultural Heritage,
Activities and for Tourism and the
former Minister for Parliamentary
Relations and Coordination of
Government Activities. A lawyer
by training and author of several
novels, he was first elected to the
legislature in 2013. He served
as Under Secretary to the Prime
Minister with responsibility for
Institutional Reforms in the second
D’Alema government and the
second Amato government.
@dariofrance
www.beniculturali.it
sites. It was then debated at the meeting
of culture ministers at Expo 2015, where
83 countries endorsed the Declaration of
Milan on 1 August, a firm condemnation
of any act of violence against culture.
UNESCO approved a historic resolution
on 13 November 2015 that commits every
country to establish a national task force to
defend cultural heritage and asks the UN
to discuss including a cultural component
in peacekeeping missions. Italy strongly
supported this resolution, which was
adopted by the UN Security Council on
24 March 2017. In addition, Italy made a
commitment that allowed an agreement
for the institution of a Category 2 centre
in Turin under the auspices of UNESCO
to train the Blue Helmets for Culture and
to establish the Italian Unite4Heritage
task force – the first of its kind in any
UNESCO member country – composed of 60
officers at the disposal of the international
community in ‘culture keeping’ missions.
By promoting the first meeting of G7
culture ministers and the representatives
of the international culture organisations
on 30–31 March 2017, Italy confirms its
willingness to play a central role in cultural
leadership. The meeting produced the ‘Joint
Declaration of the Ministers of Culture of
G7 on the Occasion of the Meeting: Culture
as an Instrument for Dialogue Among
Peoples’. It confirmed the commitment of
the international community to defend and
recover world heritage threatened by wars,
terrorism and natural calamities and to fight
the illicit trafficking of cultural heritage.
It also supported the need for a cultural
component in UN peacekeeping missions.
Italy and Florence as hosts welcomed
the first G7 culture summit. Here, in the
cradle of the Renaissance, the international
community can begin to develop today
a new awareness of the role and the value
that cultural heritage will play in the world
of tomorrow. G7
g7g20.com May 2017 • G7 Italy: The Taormina Summit 33