Italian Prime Minister, Romano Prodi visited SNU to deliver a lecture entitled"Peace and Prosperity through Integration: An Italian Perspective on European Experience and Asian Challenge” on April 18th.

Before the lecture, the minister said that he was told SNU has trained most of the political leaders of Korea, so he wouldn’t speak to ‘young students’ but would do with ‘future leaders’.

Through the lecture Prodi emphasized that no matter how hard the integration is, it will bring peace and prosperity which men have longed for.

Prodi said that people outside of Europe do not seem to consider EU as a big change in world history but the integration of Europe has really been shifting the world to another level. The minister proudly stated that EU is literally, exporting democracy to rest of the world’.

Prodi devoted half of his lecture to give details of how difficult to integrate 27 European countries to become a ‘Europe’. His 7 years of experience as Chairman of EU Commission added liveliness to the story. He said that it is beyond our imagination that countries with their own economic interest and languages finally reached a practical unanimity to be a Union.

Prodi said he believe that East Asia would be able to reach an integration despite all the problems with North Korea and conflicts between Korea and Japan. He said that he wishes some day EU and ‘Asian Union’ cooperate on world’s issues like promoting DOHA Development Agenda, helping Africa, and hopefully abolishing death penalty.

He finished his lecture, saying he wanted SNU students to believe their own abilities to reach a peace and prosperity.

April 18, 2007
SNU PR Office