NAPLES, Italy (WS News) – Defence ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) wealthy democracies kicked off their meeting on Saturday with host country Italy warning the global security framework is growing increasingly precarious due to competing visions of the world.
The G7 gathering marks the group’s first ministerial meeting dedicated to defence and comes a few days after Israeli forces killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, whose death some Western leaders said raised the chances of an end to the conflict in Gaza.
Italy holds the G7 rotating presidency for 2024 as the West also grapples with the Russian advance in Ukraine and China’s military activities around Taiwan, as well as heightened tensions along the border of North and South Korea.
“The brutal Russian aggressions in Ukraine and the indeed critical situation in Middle East, combined with the profound instability of sub-Saharan Africa and the increasing tension in the Indo-Pacific region, highlight a deteriorated security framework,” Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto said in his opening speech.
Italian officials said Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov had joined colleagues in the southern Italian city of Naples, where a discussion on developments in his country is expected.
Warning that near term forecasts for global security “cannot be positive”, Crosetto – a prominent member of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party – said tensions were fuelled by a confrontation between “two different, perhaps incompatible visions of the world.”
