Vice Minister Emanuela Del Re participated in the national event of the Festival of Sustainable Development dedicated to Objective 17 “partnership for objectives” of Agenda 2030, organised by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), the Association of Italian organisations for international cooperation and solidarity (AOI) and the Italian Alliance for Sustainable Development (ASVIS). The event focused on platforms and alliances between public and private partners, from the North and South of the world, for the development, production and equitable access to diagnostic tools, treatments and vaccines.
“Italy has promoted the creation of a major international and multi-actor alliance to combat the Coronavirus at a global level and was among the first to put forward a concrete proposal in this regard, in the G7-G20 forums and at the United Nations. The ACT Accelerator – Access to COVID-19 Tools – was also inspired by, and certainly with Italy’s fundamental political, technical and financial contribution. – the Vice Minister recalled in her speech.
“We have already announced more than 400 million euros in international cooperation contributions and national research efforts to support the global response, in particular in the ACT Accelerator and the Global Response Initiative to COVID-19, which we have led together with the European Union and other partners”. – she continued – “So far, our contributions have been directed to CEPI, GAVI, the Global Fund and the WHO, bodies able to implement concrete initiatives. In addition, we have contributed to immunisation programmes against other infectious diseases around the world, which have vaccinated more than 760 million children in developing countries, and to the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, helping to save more than 38 million lives. “
“We are aware that solving this crisis requires many more resources and even more global mobilisation to ensure that no one is left behind. I myself have promoted the Inter-institutional Operational Table on Italy’s contribution to prevention and global response to COVID-19, in which the private, profit and non-profit sector participates, whose involvement is essential for an effective partnership” – she concluded – “As the next G20 Presidency, we will be fully committed to facilitating and promoting multilateral solutions to these global challenges, starting with the challenge of health cooperation. Strengthening the international response to COVID-19 and building resilient health systems will be high priority in our agenda”.
