Italian Ambassador to the US Mariangela Zappia opened the 'Ocean Stories' exhibition, celebrating the Italian Navy, its history and values, its sailors, and its commitment to preserving and protecting the oceans while promoting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, at the diplomatic headquarters in Washington. "This exhibition offers a unique opportunity to celebrate our wonderful Italian Navy," said Admiral Andrea Gueglio, director of personnel for the Italian Navy, US Admiral Karl Thomas, deputy chief of naval operations for information warfare and director of naval intelligence, and General Maurizio Cantiello, Italian defence attaché. "With more than 29,000 service members and a history dating back 164 years," Zappia recalled, "our Navy is strongly committed to ensuring maritime security, guaranteeing freedom of navigation in the wider Mediterranean Sea, protecting maritime merchant traffic, fighting piracy, and, on a global scale, on a large scale, together with the United Nations, NATO and the EU, partners and allies, starting of course with the United States with its Navy and Marine Corps. Thirty Navy ships are currently deployed abroad, from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean to Australia and Japan, the Italian Navy is also strongly committed to promoting the security and resilience of submarine infrastructure". "Last December," he continued, "a new national hub was inaugurated in La Spezia to explore, understand, exploit, and preserve the seabed and underwater environment, leveraging cutting-edge technologies. With the same approach, the Italian Navy has proposed to create, also in La Spezia, the NATO Underwater Centre of Excellence, fostering cooperation between all allies in the submarine field," he emphasised, saying he was "very proud of this extraordinary cooperation between the Italian Navy and the US Navy worldwide. Zappia then presented the model of Italy's most famous sailing ship, the training ship 'Amerigo Vespucci', described in 1962 by an American aircraft carrier as 'the most beautiful ship in the world'. "Having the model of the most beautiful ship in the world here," he said, "could not be more opportune, given that in less than a week the real Amerigo Vespucci will land in Los Angeles, as part of a world tour that will touch more than 30 ports, 28 countries in 5 continents . Together with our Defence Minister, Guido Crosetto, I will be honoured to welcome the Vespucci ship to Los Angeles on 3 July. We will take the opportunity to inaugurate, next to the ship, the first 'Villaggio Italia', a large space that showcases Italian art, the iconic excellences of our Made in Italy and offers entertainment to visitors". "'Ocean Stories' is an event dedicated to the history, values, people, activities and commitments of the Navy to preserve the environment of the oceans. This emotional exhibition aims to communicate and promote the multifaceted nature of the Italian Navy through a sensory narrative of what the Navy does on a daily basis," spoke Admiral Gueglio. "The Italian Navy," he continued, "is in fact committed to supporting the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through the green and digital transition of the fleet, hydrography, research programmes and collaborations, with the strategic goal of reducing our overall footprint. This commitment goes hand in hand with our operational activities at sea, contributing to the prosperity of our country, which - as you well know - is heavily dependent on the sea.
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