“If it is true that exams are never-ending, it is always a pleasure to pass one”. This was the reaction of Deputy Foreign Minister Lapo Pistelli at the conclusion of a peer review of the Italian Development Cooperation by the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC).
The reviewers expressed great appreciation for the changes set in motion by the Italian Cooperation. “They were pleased with the turnaround in the trend in financings, which have begun to rise again after so many years of cuts, but they particularly praised a strategic vision of geographic and sector priorities that are clearer and more consistent with goals, underscoring the enormous progress made as compared with the 2009 peer review”.
The OECD Committee also made a series of recommendations, not only in order to contribute to encouraging an approach increasingly based on efficiency and transparency in development assistance, but also with a view to improving the future legislative framework on the basis of shared experiences. “I illustrated the basic approaches and goals of a bill on Cooperation reform currently under discussion in the Senate foreign affairs commission, and I was very pleased to note also here the appreciation of the Committee for a reform that will finally bring Italy up to pace with our partners in the highly essential field of official development assistance”.
