ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th June, 2021) Italy's Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday will co-chair an in-person meeting of the global coalition to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group (ISIS, banned in Russia) on Monday.
The event will draw delegations from over 80 countries.
"We will analyze strategies to counter terrorism in high-risk areas such as the Syria-Iraq region and the Sahel region in Africa. Stabilizing these territories will also allow us to stop illegal migration flows to Italy and, hence, to the rest of Europe," Di Maio wrote on Facebook.
In addition to the ministers, the meeting will be attended by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell and a number of representatives from African countries who were invited to the event as observers.
"The meeting presents an opportunity to renew the collective commitment of coalition members to the final defeat of ISIS and to prevent any attempts to restore it [the terror group]. With this goal in mind, the ministers will reaffirm the importance of maintaining high attention to commitments, including the financial ones, to stabilize the liberated areas in Iraq and Syria," the minister added.
One of the main discussion points of the meeting will be the fight against ISIS on the "global scale," especially with its rapid spread in Africa.
The gathering will be followed by a press conference led by Blinken and Di Maio and a small meeting on Syria chaired by the US state secretary.
Blinken arrived in Rome on Sunday as part of a European tour. Prior to Italy he had visited France and Germany. He will also visit the Vatican on Monday for an audience with Pope Francis.
