Vice Minister Del Re took part via video conference in the 11th Ministerial Round Table on responses to the COVID-19 emergency, called by the Canadian Foreign Minister, Francois-Philippe Champagne.
In his address, the Vice Minister stressed how the worsening of the worldwide situation confirms the crucial importance of speeding up the only practicable and permanent solution to this crisis – finding and universally distributing health equipment for detecting, protecting, and preventing the spread of the virus.
“We are approaching the first, crucial milestones and steps forward, in providing access to the more vulnerable countries as well. After collecting the first 3 billion dollars, mainly for the vaccine, we must guarantee resources to all the other means that support speeding things up, while extending partnerships at a system level as well. Partnership with the philanthropic and private sectors, which contributed to guaranteeing 120 million dollars of quick diagnostic tests in developing Countries, is a very important step in the right direction”, said Mr Del Re.
The Vice Minister then highlighted the question of food security, which has always been one of Italian Cooperation’s priorities, even more so today, in response to the disrupting effects the pandemic is having on the value chain for food processing systems. “This is why Italy worked with the FAO to create the Food Coalition, which will officially be launched on 5 November. Even though the pandemic has pushed millions of other people into serious food insecurity, we have to double our efforts to stay on track, with the goal of eliminating hunger”, he continued.
“By identifying a large pool of experts, from both the public and private sectors, institutions, research centres, universities, and civil society, we aim to mitigate the effects of the crisis, guaranteeing access to food for all. The FAO will host this new mechanism and I call upon everyone to take part in the next meeting this week, and join the coalition”, concluded Mr Del Re.
