The Italian NGO ProgettoMondo Mlal and the Bolivian local authorities launched the fashion brand “Vicua Bolivia Tesoro Andino” at an event in La Paz. The ceremony was attended by Italy’s Ambassador Placido Vigo, the Bolivian Minister of Culture and Tourism Marko Marcelo Machicao Bankovic, and the Vice Minister of the Environment Gonzalo Rodriguez Camara. The event was organised to mark the completion of a project aimed at promoting local and national networks for the sales and exports of the Vicuña fibre within a legal framework, in order to empower the local communities of Anmin-Apolobamba in running Vicuña -related activities. The project , financed by the Directorate General for Development Cooperation
(DGCS) of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Afffairs and International Cooperation and managed by CAF Development Bank, is meant to support the selling and exporting of the Vicuña fibre.
“Vicua Bolivia Tesoro Andino”
Italian Ambassador Vigo addressed the attendees and mentioned the significant support given by Fratelli Piacenza, an Italian textile company that has been operating for over a century and whose long-standing experience has made it possible for the project to fulfil its goal – developing a vicuna wool fibre that is adequate to be marketed and used to create a top quality fashion. Moreover, Ambassador Vigo emphasized how the Italian Development Cooperation, which this year celebrates its 30th anniversary in Bolivia, has been indispensable to meeting the project’s goals following an allocation of over 222,000 euros. Italy’s top diplomat commended the contribution of ProgettoMondo Mlal for the preservation and the diffusion of Bolivia heritage and the social and cultural empowerment of the communities raising vicunas.
