 Good afternoon, it is a great pleasure Prime Minister to welcome you back at the World Economic Forum at the annual meeting you were here with two years ago in a different role as Foreign Minister. So it's no coincidence that after so many years of economic crisis and after so many efforts at reforms and the positive results that we have seen in the past year or two, we are very happy to hear what your views are, what has happened and what may happen in Italy and in Europe. There is a positive momentum. Now you have recently advocated that the moment to change Europe's destiny is right now. And you have added that we cannot afford to waste time. It's a unique opportunity that the world is used. So if we look back, of course Italy has been a leading actor in the past seven decades of Europe, actually six decades of course. You were a founding member and the cradle of the European Union is in your own country. So last year when you were G7 president, Italy took a number of active roles in promoting reforms and change and you have urged consequently also this year the European Union to draw up a common migration policy and you called for the Eurozone to move towards a bank with all the complications it has. So Europe is very much at the agenda today as you know. Some of your colleagues will be speaking later this afternoon. And so we are on the eve of your own elections, as you reminded me, 40 days from today. We are very eager to hear your vision about Italy's role in Europe and in the world. Sir, the floor is yours. Thank you very much professor. I'm grateful, ladies and gentlemen, to have the opportunity to address you in this very special sort of European afternoon or European day that we have in Davos, Italy. As you know, very much alike the other developed countries but also the emerging. In the last two years our economy is back to growth and now it's picking up speed. Two numbers. One year ago IMF forecasted for Italy a meager 0.7 GDP growth for 2017. Actual growth in 2017 according to IMF was 1.6, more than twice the forecasted figure. An export grew by 9.7 between November 2016 and November 2017. In the last three years employed people grew by over 1 million units reaching the recorded highest in 40 years. Global industrial production is up to 2.7 year on year while orders in machineries and other devices supported by our tax incentive policies increased last year between 7 and 13% depending in the type. And we also see growth in the buzzing of ideas, in new ventures, companies that go and compete with great success in the international markets. And many of these companies are here in Davos. My government has done and is doing its best to improve the business conditions in Italy. We have focused our reforms on the institutional foundations of growth, a more efficient labour market with the right balance between flexibility and security. We called it the JOBS Act, a more solid financial system, the constant improvement of skills and a more lean and more efficient state apparatus including justice and bureaucracy. We have a long way to go but these were our reforms in these years. This reforming effort must continue and will continue while at the same time our public debt will have to decrease at a steady and sustainable pace. The Eurozone and Italy among it is now looking at better years ahead. Of course, the world is still as usual very complicated and unpredictable. There are many areas of risk and global threats, conflicts, instability, climate change, the rising of protectionism in economy. We have to manage crisis while at the same time go deeper and tackle the root cause of the phenomena-causing crisis. I will give you just one example, migration. Italy continues to save lives at sea. We are proud of this. This is our country. This is Italy. Italy has also succeeded largely on its own to drastically reduce the flows of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea. Last year, 2017, migrant sea arrivals fell by 35% relative to 2016. And if we only look at arrivals in the second half of the year, they fell by 70%. This means that less and less people risk or lose their life. However, we are also engaged with an increasing number of European partners in a long-term effort with unprecedented support for the economic development of sub-Saharan Africa, including investment and institutional partnership. In 2016, Italy was the third global investor in Africa and the first European one. Ladies and gentlemen, as you know, Italy is heading to national elections, which will take place in 40 days. So in half an hour, I will leave Davos in a context characterized by sustained economic growth after having successfully addressed the problems it has in its banking system. And as I said, the risk related to unchecked inflow, growing inflow of migrants. Nonetheless, the electoral competition is open, obviously. At the core of it is the challenge raised by closed and populist instances. And I trust that the latter will not prevail. The European political systems are going through unprecedented changes. New parties emerge. Radical populist discourse is endemic. Political fragmentation is the new feature of the old continent. Today, many voices across the continent suggest shortcuts and easy solutions derived from improvisation and the ruthless exploitation of legitimate worries. Frequently, they give the wrong answers to right questions. We must contrast shortcuts and demagoguery. Yet we must not ignore the deep causes of diffused discontent. There are still unacceptable large parts of our populations that feel unsatisfied from their conditions and worried for the future. Many cleavages were opened by the Great Recession. And many are still in need of mending. Additionally, economic growth is not reducing inequalities. But in many countries, including Italy, they are still widening, even if economic growth is there. They are reaching even more intolerable levels. And digital innovation, with its enormous and positive potential, is yet threatening both the quantity and the quality of available jobs. We must not give in to the idea of a world destined to be split between a cosmopolitan, digital elite and an army of precarious and underpaid local workers. These worries and these frustrations are our main concern and main driver. We aim at a stronger and more cohesive society. We strive for a freer and more secure world. During the next year, we have the unprecedented chance to relaunch the role of the European Union. The difficult years characterized by the Brexit vote, by the economic crisis and unchecked migrant inflows, and by the perfect storm of these three elements, converging, these years are now behind our back. Those who have bet on a final crisis of the EU have clearly lost. They should admit, the EU is there and has exactly this year an opportunity to be relaunched. So today we must answer positively and decisively to the quest for more Europe. That is to say a stronger union and not only a large common market, a stronger political union. The core values of freedom and open society, combined with social solidarity, are still at the center of our continent, of our economic and foreign policy, based on dialogue and free trade, of our welfare state, which we protect and modernize. We live in a world characterized by the quest for short-term satisfaction, a world which was unimaginable even only 20 years ago, in which short and simple communication from billions of individuals is able to reach every small corner of the earth in a matter of minutes. In order to be equipped to live such a rite and to embrace the increased technological changes, artificial intelligence, and all that science and business is bringing to us, we need to nurture at the same time the sense of time and community, the sense of how much we owe to each other and to our history, to our roots. Our history and our roots are not synonymous of protectionism. Our history and our roots are the tools that we use in a global and international cooperation and dialogue. Looking at the recent past increases our desire, if not optimism for the future. It gives us the awareness that we, as Italians and Europeans, will always let dialogue to prevail, respect to prevail, and conviction to prevail. This is our identity, which we gladly share with the globalized world. Thank you for your attention. Thank you, Prime Minister. We have about 15 minutes to discuss a few questions, and obviously there is a wide array of topics, both referring to Italy and to Europe and the rest of the world. But let's first briefly look at Italy. As you pointed out, the Italian economy is picking up. The 2017 numbers are very, very positive. But still it is still slow-growing and it still has a public debt of around 130% of GDP. And even after the accomplishment of these reforms, I wonder, listening and reading about the election campaign, how much is this worrying picture reflected in the election campaign? Are there really major reforms which possibly would lead to an agreement among the large groupings? Well, yes, Italy has a long way ahead. The relevant message from my point of view, Professor, is that Italy has to go on the process of reforms. I think the process of reforms that we achieved in the last years, it's not to me to tell this, but I think it's true, is rather impressive. Just to example, if we look to the job market and pensions, Italian reforms are probably one of the most advanced examples, and many other countries are now working exactly on these subjects. And I hope that they will have success in these reforms. But we have done it in the last years. So we have to go on. And going on, we have to take an account that the path need to be gradual and sustainable. Even the reduction of our debts, that is necessary, and is a commitment of the government. I hope, and I am confident of the next government, has to be a gradual path considering the fact that the proportional augmentation of our public debt was not higher of the other comparative countries. What is higher is the debt in itself, but it grew less than other relevant countries. We have a primary surplus stable since many years, and we are beginning to reducing the debt. And by the way, as an interesting statistic show a couple of days ago, I remember in the front page of the Financial Times, we have the lowest private debt in the world. And it is something. So we are not in a country without extraordinary potential of development. We have to keep our track. This is the mission. Let the reforms go on and continue. And gradually this will be perceived and felt also by the middle class, and especially the lower middle class, that was affected by the crisis. And it takes time to perceive the fact that economy is again in the right track. It's easier for economists or business people, and it is not easy for the families to see the consequences of the new positive situation. So we need not propaganda, we need time and reforms and stability. Well that's very encouraging. And of course in the mind of many people is a question which is perhaps bluntly formulated but let me try it out on you anyway. Is there a risk of political instability and thus of a lack of reforms? Well I'm not campaigning in Davos. What I would say, Professor, is that we have a certain expertise in flexible solutions to political instability. We could also give some advice for free to other colleagues because the problem is larger than it was. It was an Italian specialty, now I'm joking. But the fact is that I think that we, with all the, obviously, we have to consider that the vote is an open question. The voters will decide. What I'm confident in is that in any case I hope that we will have a good success because of the effort we have done in these years but I think that in any case Italy with all the frequent changes of government we had in the last decades showed an impressive stability in its fundamental of economy and foreign policy. If you look to the fundamentals, Italy is one of the more stable major countries in Europe and it will continue to do so, whatever, whatever, no, but I am confident with the help of the result of the elections. Prime Minister, if I may, the difference between today and say the past few decades which are referred to is, of course, migration, refugees, Mediterranean. To what extent does that play a role in the election campaign and in the expected policies going forward because it is a big, big issue for Italy which has received many refugees not voluntarily and, of course, that has been diminished somewhat in 2017 by about a third, I believe, to 100, 120,000. But what impact does that have on the stability which you are referring to? The impact is very, very strong, Professor. I think it is very strong for every single country and the paradox is that it is very strong in every single country perhaps without taking in account the numbers of migrants and the real flows. How much did the migration issue influence the vote in UK about EU? A lot, yes. My friend Aleksandar Vucic is here, President of Serbia, and how important in all the Balkan region is the issue of migration. And it remains important even if the number of flows has been reduced after the agreement with Turkey. But I have to say two things. One is that we don't give up to our principles. So we save lives and those that cross the sea, we are not closing our ports. I know that is one of the more costly political decisions that you can take in these times, but this is the Italian decision, full stop. And I have to say that we, last year especially, we succeeded in showing that it is possible to reduce the flow and gradually it will be a long story because migration will not disappear. We transform this totally unchecked and with criminal control flow of migrants in something manageable and regulated and even useful in certain sectors of our economy. It is possible when I say that we reduce 70% of flows and we begin to have human corridors from Libya to Italy and that several countries are ready to accept regularly flows of refugee or migrants, I am showing the fact that this transition from criminal, unchecked and very dangerous for the migrants route to something more civilized, regulated and controlled is possible and we are working for this. Thank you Prime Minister. As a closing question, there are many other topics we could have discussed, but we do not have the time unfortunately. A closing question, in two days' time President Trump will be on this stage, will be in that chair. What is your message for him? Well, welcoming doubts. Your private message. For the welcoming, I am sure Professor Schwab will take care of the welcoming, yours? I was very glad to welcome President Trump in Sicily when we held the G7 recently. I think that, I have two points Professor, one is it is totally legitimate, understandable the desire for political leaders to defend their own citizens, their own companies, their own economy. So I respect that. But obviously there is a limit and the limit is the framework we are all living in. The sentiment we are feeling here in Davos is, and I always say yes, but there is the social consequence, the inequalities, but the sentiment is a positive one. So there is a synchronized positive sensation of growth in our economies emerging and developed countries together. Will we be able to disrupt this? I think that the limit is there. Yes, you can defend and protect your citizens, your workers, your companies, but we live in a framework given by trade agreements, free trade, international rules, multilateral decision, and we have to keep this system functioning, perhaps with some correction if there are problems to change, but without disrupting what has given us all these potentialities. And my second and final point is Europe is not there to give our opinion on what the elected president of the United States decides. Everyone of us can have this opinion and when our interests are involved, for example on free trade, as I said, or in climate change, we are openly saying what we think and the differences that we have. But apart from this, our role is not to comment what the US president is doing, but to do what Europe needs to do and to have the political and economic role that Europe has to have. In our region, in the Mediterranean, North Africa, in the Balkans, in the Middle East, Europe has an enormous trade force, economic force, but not yet a sufficiently strong political position. This is the opportunity for the next month to relaunch a political role of the main European countries or all the European countries, if there is this possibility, to have a geopolitical and economical role in our region and in the world. If there are gaps to fill, Europe can fill the gap. But please, Europe act, finalize the trade agreement with Latin America, strengthen your presence in the Mediterranean, solve the migration challenge, be stronger as Europe. This I think is the fundamental message that we have to launch in this so unpredictable world. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Prime Minister, for a very clear answer. I'm sure that in some summary it will be passed on to President Trump and we wish you very great success in your forthcoming election. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.