Angelo Comiti said the G8 summit is a welcome opportunity for the small island, north of Sardinia, to transform its economy. He said he would discuss the event's program at a meeting with Defense Minister Arturo Parisi in Rome as early as next Monday.
Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and President Massimo d'Alema hailed the choice of Maddalena as the venue for the G8 summit in 2009, saying it reaffirmed and enhanced Italy's standing as one of the world's leading industrialized nations.
A U.S. nuclear submarine base deployed on Maddalena during the Cold War era will have been pulled out by the end of next year. But, according to Comiti, the community's experience of living side-by-side with the military may come in handy during the G8 summit, when it will be faced with the challenge of ensuring the security of its VIP guests from France, Britain, Germany, the United States, Canada, Japan, Russia and, of course, mainland Italy.
It will be the fifth time Italy has played host to G7 and G8 summits, with Venice having been the venue in 1980 and 1987, Naples in 1994, and Genoa in 2001.
Next year's summit is to be held on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido.
