(Adnkronos) – Italy’s foreign minister Antonio Tajani and European Union counterparts were on Monday set to look the escalating United-States-Israel war with Iran in the Middle East, its possible consequences for the Russia-Ukraine conflict and implications for EU-India security, defence, and energy ties, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
The ministers were due to focus on the widening Middle East conflict’s economic impact and the consequences of the partial blockade of the Strait of Hormuz global oil transport route and the measures adopted internationally to release oil reserves, said the statement.
Ukraine’s foreign minister Andrii Sybiha is scheduled to take part by video link in a session centred on the effects of war in the Middle East on the four-year-old Ukraine-Russia conflict, also in view of Ukraine’s possible contribution to the defence of the Gulf countries, which have come under attack from Iran, according to the statement.
India’s foreign minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will attend a meeting that to review the country’s relations with the EU, especially in the security, defence, and energy field, weighing the consequences of the Middle East crisis for these ties.
Recalling the attacks in Erbil, northern Iraq last week that killed a French soldier and damaged an Italian base, prompting Italy’s government to announce it was temporarily withdrawing its military personnel from the base, Tajani “will report on the contacts he has had with the Gulf countries and other regional partners to promote de-escalation, with the aim of reaching a ceasefire and resuming dialogue using all the tools available to the EU,” said the statement.
Tajani was also set to focus on the dire humanitarian situation in Lebanon, where Italy is giving 10 million euros of emergency aid to help at least 750,000 people displaced by Israeli strikes targeting pro-Iranian militant grop Hezbollah which began in early March, the statement continued.
The statement also underlined “the need to maintain high levels of attention in Gaza to preserve the truce and ensure adequate aid flows.”
On Ukraine, Tajani was due to underline his hope that new negotiations will be rescheduled soon, with strong Euro-Atlantic coordination, the statement noted.
The last round of trilateral talks took place in Geneva on February 17-18, and talks slated for 5 March in Abu Dhabi were postoned following the US-Israeli attacks in Iran that began in late Feburary.
At the meeting with Jaishankar, Tajani will underscore the importance of strengthening EU-India relations in the security and defence sector, including maritime security, and of leveraging the historic free trade deal reached in late January.
Two Indian-flagged liquefied petroleum gas carriers, Shivalik and Nanda Devi, carrying about 92,712 metric tons of LPG, crossed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday en route to India, Jaishankar told the Financial Times in an interview, saying he was happy to share India’s diplomatic approach with EU capitals.
The Gulf crisis confirms the importance of diversifying trade routes and the strategic relevance of the India-Middle East-Europe Economic corridor (IMEC) on which the foreign ministry is organising a forum in Trieste, northeast Italy on Tuesday (‘Developing an Indo-Mediterranean Perspective through the IMEC Network’), the statement pointed out.
Tajani will have bilateral talks with Natos secretary general Mark Rutte and other EU in the sidelines of Monday’s EU Foreign Affairs Council, the statement concluded.
