Boosting Italy's chronically low economic growth and its competitiveness are key to cutting the nation's massive 2.3 trillion euro debt, foreign minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi said on Monday.
"It is our responsibility to reduce the debt burden for future generations, and to do this we need to grow and be competitive," Moavero said.
He was speaking at the presentation an annual report on Italy's construction sector worldwide.
"In the past 25 years, Italian growth has consistently been below the European Union average. The country must be able to show it can grow and improve its competitiveness," Moavero underlined.
Italian building firms can play a major role in achieving this goal, Moavero said.
"I am launching a call to action," he told the Ance meeting.
Italy's populist government has come under pressure since unveiling plans last week to triple Italy's deficit to 2.4 percent of GDP to fund welfare and pensions spending and tax cuts - targets that have rattled financial markets and set up a clash with the European Commission.
The government's plans will only add to Italy's debt pile, and the cost of servicing this means the country will lose out by flouting EU fiscal rules, the bloc's Economic Commissioner Pierre Moscovici said on Thursday - claims that were rejected by premier Giuseppe Conte.
The best way to bring down public debt is by investing more to boost economic growth and social progress, according to Conte and other cabinet members.
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