On Friday October 13th 2023, Dr. Filippo Verre presented a Guest Lecture at LUISS University on the strategic importance of water. The event, promoted and organized by ASOI – Alla Scoperta delle Organizzazioni Internazionali, an institution within the same university, aimed to shed light on the role that water, understood as a geo-strategic resource, plays in international relations.

Title of the Guest Lecture: Water Diplomacy: Navigating Complex Challenges for Global Sustainability.

AB AQUA participated with pleasure and interest in this event, very well organized and structured down to the smallest details. Dr. Verre focused the presentation on the role that China plays in the international context precisely from a hydro-diplomatic point of view. As already underlined in the past, Beijing is in all respects one of the main hydro-strategic players in the global context.

The areas of application of the Chinese diplomatic doctrine based on the stipulation of water agreements are varied, especially in Asia and Africa, where many state-owned companies based in Shanghai or Beijing have been building hydraulic infrastructures of absolute strategic importance for years.

The case study in question at the event at Luiss “Guido Carli” last October 13th focused on Chinese hydro-diplomacy in Argentina. The South American continent has recently become an important destination for Chinese capital and projects, a tangible sign of Beijing’s increased international awareness in an area historically the preserve of the United States.

Following a significant diplomatic alignment between China and Argentina, a large Chinese company will build a massive hydraulic infrastructure on the Rio Santa Cruz, a river located in the southern part of the Andean country, in the near future. Why are the authorities in Buenos Aires so willing to receive Chinese capital? What are the economic and diplomatic implications of this agreement between the two countries? What will Beijing benefit from once the work is completed? Our report aimed to shed light on these aspects and to analyze the growing role that water now plays at various levels in international diplomacy.

Below, some photos of the event. at the following link it is possible to see the slides that were used during the presentation, held in English in front of a large audience of Italian and international students: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1vAZL0olVX4OcnqegLO6FA2s-9ID94mny/view?usp=sharing. 

Guest Lecture - LUISS

Filippo Verre - October 13, 2023