The fourth annual meeting of the Joint Committee for Development Cooperation was held at the Farnesina. The meeting was chaired by the Deputy Foreign Ministers with delegate powers for cooperation, Emanuela Del Re.
In her opening remarks, the Deputy Minister underscored the “absolute centrality, strategic value and propositional capacity of international development cooperation in Italy’s foreign policy,” and, in this perspective, recalled the Italy-Africa Conference scheduled for 25 October at the Farnesina: “a precious opportunity to jointly develop an Italian-African partnership in pace with the times and with our ambitions, along the lines already outlined by the Prime Minister and Minister Moavero.”
The Committee approved contributions to specialised organizations and agencies as well as bilateral contributions for a total of almost 150 million euros.
In terms of geographical distribution, 9 contributions were approved for African Countries (Kenya, Tunisia, Senegal, Mozambique, Somalia), 2 contributions for the Middle East (Jordan and Iraq), one for Asia (Afghanistan), in addition to two voluntary contributions for the UN and the FAO. As affirmed by Deputy Minister Come Del Re, “our contributions aim to guide Countries, populations and individuals along the road towards sustainable development, as provided for in the 2030 Agenda, working together for the common good, in the conviction that they might produce dividends in terms of peace and security for us and for future generations.”
The Committee also approved a 70-million-euro financing for the annual call for projects submitted by Civil Society Organizations “as proof of the important and qualified space we intend to reserve to the many actors in the multifaceted panorama of Italian Development Cooperation efforts,” said Deputy Foreign Minister Del Re.
