On 10 July, in the framework of the Ukraine Recovery Conference (URC2025), Mykola Tochytskyi, Minister of Culture and Strategic Communications of Ukraine, met with Alessandro Giuli, Minister of Culture of the Italian Republic.
The key outcome of the meeting was the signing of the Rome Manifesto on the establishment of the Culture Resilience Alliance – an international, Ukraine-coordinated initiative aimed at consolidating international efforts to protect and restore Ukrainian culture both during the war and in the post-war period.
“This message of support for our ideas is extremely strong and emotionally significant for me. After Uzhhorod and Warsaw, we are signing an important document on the Cultural Alliance here in Rome today. This is the result of our joint efforts, dear Minister, which we have taken together to make everyone in our society realise that culture is fundamental,” said Mykola Tochytskyi.
The Alliance is founded on the principles of solidarity, cultural diversity, and shared responsibility and brings together its participants to coordinate efforts in embedding cultural dimension into long-term recovery and development frameworks.
The Manifesto was presented at the Panel “Culture as a cornerstone of human capital development” in the framework of the URC2025 and is now open to accession by governments, international organizations and NGOs.
During the meeting, the ministers discussed strengthening partnerships in the field of culture, training specialists in the restoration and preservation of cultural heritage sites, as well as joint efforts to combat illicit trafficking of cultural property and international responsibility for crimes against culture.
Mykola Tochytskyi thanked the Italian government for the successful organisation and holding of the URC2025, as well as for the personal support of Italian Minister of Culture Alessandro Giuli in ensuring a worthy representation of Ukrainian culture on the Conference agenda.
We are pleased to reaffirm our continued support for Ukraine. Every theatre bombarded, every museum looted, every church profaned by Russian attacks is a bloody wound to the heart of Ukrainian people. It is also an attack on European culture and an outrage to all humanity. After all the speeches made today, we are convinced that this conference will reinforce the powerful coalition of Europe and the whole free world around Ukraine”, said Alessandro Giuli.
The Ukrainian Minister expressed special gratitude to his Italian counterpart for the significant financial assistance provided by the Italian government to strengthen capacity of cultural institutions and restore cultural heritage sites of Ukraine, particularly in Odesa and Odesa region, damaged as a result of the Russian armed aggression.
