Italy’s Foreign Minister Tajani discusses Red Sea, Gaza, G-7 priorities with Germany’s Baerbock

By Giovani Legorano

ROME (AA) - Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani spoke Tuesday with his German counterpart, Annalena Baerbock, and discussed the crisis in the Middle East and the priority for the Italian presidency of the G-7.

“We firstly spoke about the safety of navigation in the Red Sea and the conflict in Gaza. Guaranteeing the freedom of navigation and safety of maritime trade is a priority for us, particularly for two exporting powers like Italy and Germany,” said Tajani, according to a statement from his office. “We are assessing together with our European partners the various operational options.”

Navigation in the Red Sea has been severely disrupted by repeated attacks by Yemen’s Houthis targeting commercial shipping and British and American warships in the Red Sea. The US and UK responded with airstrikes on targets linked to the Houthi group.

The two ministers also discussed priorities of this year’s Italian presidency of the G-7 group of nations.

“We have a shared vision on many dossiers and I am sure our spirit of collaboration will contribute to further elevate the level of coordination and cohesion among G-7 partners,” said Tajani.​​​​​​​

The pair also spoke about the war in the Gaza Strip and emphasized the need to avoid a regionalization of the conflict and to lay the ground for a peace process as well as the need to supply Gaza’s population with humanitarian aid.