The 5th annual meeting of the Joint Development Cooperation Committee, chaired by Vice Minister Emanuela Del Re, has been held today in virtual format.
At today’s meeting, the Joint Committee has approved a package of initiatives in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, as well as the call for contributions in relation to initiatives promoted by civil society organisations, totalling over 181 million euros.
It has also become traditional for the meeting to review priority issues for Italian development cooperation with the contribution of an external guest, in this case Jan Beagle, Director-General of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO), who illustrated the activities of the Rome-based Organisation to the Committee. Jan Beagle and Emanuela Del Re have agreed on the opportunity to further deepen the already “crucial” collaboration between Italy and IDLO.
“For development cooperation, the pandemic crisis can and must become an opportunity to include environmental considerations in our development initiatives, even more than done in the past, in order to promote a virtuous cycle,” the Vice Minister has stated at the meeting. Vice Minister Del Re has also illustrated the results of her recent mission to Somalia and her talks with the Ethiopian Minister of Peace on the worrying humanitarian situation in the Tigray region, expressing Italy’s strong expectations for the swift and full implementation of the humanitarian aid corridors, to assist the populations affected by the conflict.
At the end of the meeting, the Vice Minister has attended the signing ceremony of the new tripartite Convention between the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, which will strengthen the “participatory” approach and involvement of all three “cooperation system” partners, as envisaged by lawmakers in connection with the approval of Law 125/14.
