Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini spoke today at SAIS about

Italy's role in confronting some of today's major international

challenges, and the course he hopes the United States and Europe will
take in dealing with them. Frattini, who is serving his second tenure as
foreign minister and has also been Vice President of the European
Commission, focused on three key areas: the war in Afghanistan,
instability in Somalia and Yemen, and the Iranian nuclear dispute.

Frattini referred to an "Arc of Instability" reaching from the Middle East

to Central Asia, where threats against the West continue to
materialize. In Afghanistan, Italy is increasing its military presence, and
the foreign minister expressed support for the plan laid out by
President Obama at West Point in November. Italy wants a "new pact"
to be reached between Afghan leaders and the international
community. This would strengthen the civilian component of the
mission in Afghanistan, to help in economic development, training of
security forces, and combating corruption. On an ambitious timetable,
more responsibilities should be transferred to Afghan authorities on a
province-by-province basis.

The next region of concern Frattini addressed was Yemen and Somalia,
where al-Qaeda activity is increasing and piracy has become a high-
profile problem. He noted that Italy is already involved in bilateral
cooperation with Yemen on maritime security, training Yemeni coast
guards. Italy had also proposed an approach for the whole international
community to take towards Yemen, which Frattini said he had
discussed with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this morning. The
proposal would emphasize Yemeni and regional ownership of initiatives
to stabilize the country, avoiding the appearance of solutions being
imposed from outside. The Yemeni government and its neighbors in
the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council should develop a re-
stabilization plan, which could then be implemented with the
involvement of other countries and international aid groups in a
Friends of Yemen group. Frattini also urged support for the Transitional
Government of Somalia and a similarly comprehensive rebuilding
approach.

On the issue of Iran, Frattini lamented that there had been little
progress in negotiations. However, he reiterated that the "open hand"
diplomatic policy pursued by President Obama was the correct one,
and that it had produced some important results, namely increased
international solidarity on the issue and more willingness on Russia's
part to push Iran away from developing nuclear weapons. If Iran
continued to drag its feet, Frattini said, greater pressure should be
applied in the form of sanctions targeted at high-ranking members of
the regime, and that agreement on these sanctions should be sought
from the greatest number of countries possible. When asked to
address the prospect of more "direct action" if this approach did not
work, Frattini pointedly said that a military first strike on Iran would be
a catastrophe. Italy, which he said was the best friend of Israel among
European countries, had been urging Israel not to take this step. The
international community could scarcely afford division on the most
important issues in the Middle East.

In closing, Frattini expressed optimism on the European Union's

progress on forming a common foreign policy and presenting a unified
voice in international affairs. The United States and Europe formed an
indispensable 'G2,' and was hopeful that they would rise to the
challenges together.