The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edmondo Cirielli, today chaired the fourth meeting of the Joint Committee for Development Cooperation 2026, held at the Farnesina. During the meeting, a package of measures worth a total of around EUR 45 million was approved, in line with the priorities of Italian Cooperation and the 2026 Programme.
In Palestine, a EUR 5 million grant to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) will support the economic recovery of the Gaza Strip by reviving micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, promoting job creation and retention, and improving the functioning of the labour market. The Joint Committee also approved a grant to the World Food Programme (WFP) to tackle the food crisis and improve nutritional conditions for young children in Cuba.
On the multilateral front, a voluntary contribution was approved for the Italo–Latin American International Organisation (IILA), to support the partnership between Italy and Latin America in the fields of rural and sustainable development and scientific cooperation, as well as a contribution to the UNESCO World Academy of Sciences for the Advancement of Science in the developing world (TWAS), based in Trieste.
Approval was also given for two loans from Cassa Depositi e Prestiti in Uzbekistan and Bosnia and Herzegovina, totalling EUR 35 million, aimed at strengthening, amongst other things, the private sector and small and medium-sized enterprises in the two countries, with a particular focus on the green transition, sustainable development, and entrepreneurship among women and young people.
With a view to ensuring an increasingly effective presence of Italian Cooperation in priority areas, the Joint Committee has finally approved the opening of two AICS project Offices in Luanda (Angola) – a focus country under the Mattei Plan – and in N’Djamena (Chad), reporting to the AICS Offices in Maputo and Niamey respectively.
