An opportunity for dialogue to strengthen cooperation on a political-diplomatic level and share perceptions on the most urgent humanitarian challenges in the Middle East, the Mediterranean and Africa. These were the main issues discussed during the meeting yesterday in the Magistral Villa between the Order of Malta and the Ambassadors in Rome of the Arab League member states.
Organized with the invaluable collaboration of Enas Sayed Mohamed Aly Mekkawy, the Arab League Ambassador to Italy and the Holy See, the event was an opportunity to enhance the Order’s role in the region, where it has been working in the humanitarian and development sectors for some thousand years, especially in the health and social areas, assisting the most vulnerable communities.
Opening the proceedings, the Grand Chancellor evoked the special historical and cultural link between the Order of Malta and the Holy Land, and underlined the commitment to provide support in conflict-affected areas. “Our mission is to bring help to those in need without distinctions of any kind” said Riccardo Paternò di Montecupo, adding: “We believe in a just and fair international order, founded on the rules of law, which must be defended with determination, especially where they are being violated in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Myanmar and many other parts of the world”.
During the meeting, Giampaolo Cantini, the Order of Malta’s Secretary General for Foreign Affairs, explained that the role of humanitarian diplomacy was an essential instrument for the success of the Order’s mission. Following him, Ivo Graziani, the Grand Hospitaller’s Chief of Staff, illustrated the Order of Malta’s humanitarian activities in the Middle East, with particular emphasis on Palestine, Gaza, Lebanon, Iraq and Syria.
Grand Hospitaller Josef D. Blotz, who has just returned from visiting the Holy Land, closed the meeting by illustrating the Order’s main projects in the region. First of all, the Holy Family Hospital in Bethlehem, a point of reference for maternity and neonatal critical care in the West Bank, and then the humanitarian interventions in Gaza, where over 300 tons of food were delivered in cooperation with the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.
The Arab League has a total of 22 member states. Currently, the Order of Malta has official diplomatic relations with 9 of these – Comoros, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Mauritania, Palestine, Somalia and Sudan. The Grand Chancellor confirmed his desire to establish diplomatic relations with all member states, as well as with the Arab League itself, pointing out that formal recognition would facilitate the development of further health and social projects in the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.
