(Adnkronos) – Italian-Americans have raised funds for areas of southern Italy ravaged by heavy rain and storm surges in January “and will continue” to do so, foreign minister Antonio Tajani told reporters in Cagliari, Sardinia late Monday.
“Tomorrow, I will be in Washington (DC) for an event on raw materials, and will take the opportunity to meet with representatives of the NIAF (National Italian American Foundation), Tajani told a press conference after talks with the region’s governor, Alessandra Todde.
NIAF “is the organisation that brings together Italian Americans,” Tajani said.
“It will give me a copy of the first bank transfer it made to Italy’s civil protection agency of funds raised among Italian Americans for the areas devastated by the floods,” Tajani said.
“And they (NIAF members) will continue to raise funds. It is a nice gesture, I think it is important to feel the closeness of those who have never seen Italy but have Italian blood, Tajanji added.
Tajani visited flood-hit Sardinia, Calabria and Sicily to brief the regions’ governors on action being taken by Italy’s government in the wake of the trail of destruction left by last month’s Cyclone Harry.
Officials say the extreme weather has caused billions of euros of damage and losses to mainly small companies in the three regions, many of them export-driven.
