(ANSA) - BELGRADE, MAR 17 - "Italy intends to join the Three Seas Initiative as a strategic partner," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced in his speech at the CEI's 30th anniversary summit, adding that joining "will make Trieste and the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region increasingly key players and a bridge for dialogue between the Adriatic, the Black Sea, and the Baltic Sea." Tajani then focused on Trieste on "National Unity Day," a city that was once a symbol of division but is now a crossroads of peace, dialogue, and growth, at the centre of "a region that embodies a dynamic and innovative productive fabric, well integrated into the Central European and Adriatic-Balkan economies." Tajani went on to say that the region will be increasingly central to the government's commitment to growth and competitiveness. Because, despite the Middle Eastern conflict, "we must not lose sight of our Europe's future, beginning precisely with the process of enlargement or reunification, as I like to call it." (ANSA).