Deputy Minister Marina Sereni presided over the second annual meeting of the Joint Committee for Development Cooperation, also attended by the Director General for Development Cooperation, Fabio Cassese and the Director of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, Luca Maestripieri.
As she opened the working sessions, the Deputy Minister noted the strong humanitarian response by Italy to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the two agreements for cooperation projects she recently signed in Dakar with the Senegal Government for a total amount of 16 million euros.
A policy statement was also presented on the Migration Fund and Reward Fund by Director General for Italian Citizens Abroad and Migration Policies, Luigi Maria Vignali.
The second Joint Committee annual meeting decided on Italian Cooperation Service contributions for a total value of approximately 180 million euros. More specifically, approximately 158 million euros are earmarked for voluntary contributions for International Organisations and about 22 million euros to carry out multi-bilateral projects in Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans in the areas of food security and social, economic and environmental development.
With reference to the multilateral voluntary contributions, 85 million euros were earmarked for the healthcare sector (including 54 to the Global Fund, 24 to GAVI Alliance and 4 to CEPI), about 37 million euros for sustainable development and education (including 17 to UN DESA, 7 to the FAO, 5 to the GPE, 3.2 to CIHEAM/IAMB and 3 to IDLO), about 27 million euros to the humanitarian sector and to support female empowerment (including 9 to UNHCR, 6 to CICR, 5.2 to UNICEF, 3 to UNFPA and 3 to UN Women).
Sereni said that “the Italian Cooperation Service has a strong presence in many countries. We continue to promote the sustainable development of our partners in line with Government approved guidelines. Today we have established the multilateral planning for 2022 with approval by the Committee for most of the voluntary contributions to international bodies”.
