Today in Rome, at the headquarters of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation, the Annual Meeting of the Directors of AICS Offices abroad opens (19-21 December 2024). It will provide an opportunity for discussion and updating on cooperation issues. Africa will be at the centre of the debate, with spaces for reflection and debate on the role of the Agency in support of the “Mattei Plan”.
The Meeting of the Directors will make it possible to take stock of the activities carried out in 2024, a year full of international challenges that have seen the AICS at the forefront as an implementing entity of development cooperation policies, with the launch of numerous projects and the opening of new Offices in Côte d’Ivoire and Uganda, as part of the Mattei Plan, and four new project Offices, in Syria, Moldova, Zambia and Indonesia.
The event will also offer an opportunity to take stock of the commitments and challenges of 2025, also reflecting on how to improve the ability of the AICS to act on the ground, 10 years after the law that established the Agency and delineated its areas and methods of action.
A few days before the States General of Diplomacy, the event will be attended by the 20 heads of AICS Offices around the world, 10 of whom are in Africa, with speeches by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Edmondo Cirielli, the Director General for Development Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Stefano Gatti, the Director of AICS, Marco Riccardo Rusconi, the Deputy Coordinator of the Structure for the Implementation of the Mattei Plan Lorenzo Ortona and the Director of International Cooperation and Finance for Development of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP) Paolo Lombardo.
To stress the importance of the partnership with civil society organisations and companies involved in the development processes of partner countries, Silvia Stilli will also be present as the Spokesperson of the Association of Italian Organisations of International Cooperation and Solidarity and the President of Confindustria Assafrica & Mediterraneo Massimo Dal Checco.
Space will also be given to the discussion with the corresponding European agencies, with speeches by the Director of the Spanish FIIAPP (International and Ibero-American Foundation for Administration and Public Policy) Francisco Tierraseca Galdón.
The Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), within the framework of the guidelines defined by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, is the technical body responsible for carrying out the operational activities related to the phases of preliminary activities, formulation, financing, management and control of cooperation initiatives. The Agency was established with the law of reform of cooperation (Law125/2014) and began operating in 2016, with a central Office in Rome and one in Florence, in addition to the 20 Offices abroad.
