Four Delegations Visit La Maddalena in the Second Week of March
13/03/2009
A further four delegations from the countries that will be attending the Summit in July visited the sites where the Summit is to be held on the island of La Maddalena, in the second week in March. The Egyptian delegation, led by Embassy Counsellor Alla Roushdy, arrived on La Maddalena on Monday 9 March, departing again for Rome on 10 March.
The next day, three delegations arrived on the island at the same time. The South Korean delegation was led by Ambassador to Italy Kim Joong Jae, the Australian delegation was led by Deputy Mission Chief Paula Watt, and the Indonesian delegation was led by Dr. Parnomo Chandra. The three countries have been invited to the Summit on La Maddalena in their capacity as members of the Major Economies Meeting (MEM), an organisation originally set up at the G8 Summit in Heiligendamm in 2007 that includes the G8 countries, the G5 (China, India, Brazil, South Africa and Mexico) and Australia, South Korea and Indonesia. The three delegations returned to Rome on Thursday 12 March.
As always, the delegations were met by the Commissioner Delegate's structure, headed up this week by G8 mission structure chief Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi.
The programme for all delegations is now part of a consolidated agenda comprising three main events: an inspection of the Arsenal, which will be hosting the summit's main structures; a meeting at the offices of the Commissioner Delegate's structure, where delegations watch a film introducing the sites of the summit and where they can discuss details with the mission structure's members; and finally, a visit to Olbia where the delegates inspect both the industrial wharf on which the Press Village is due to be built, and the city's "Costa Smeralda" airport where the delegations comprising the heads of state and government leaders will be landing. The delegates who conducted inspections this week also showed a great deal of interest in such residential structures as the former hospital on La Maddalena and the hotels in the Gallura region.
Indian delegation will be visiting the Summit venue on 23 March.
