Revitalising economic relations, strengthening bilateral cooperation on gender issues and human rights, and regional dossiers and UN matters. These are the key topics for discussion during Foreign Minister Emma Bonino\u2019s mission to Ghana and Senegal from 5 to 8 January 2014. The mission, to two of the African continent\u2019s most stable countries, comes in the wake of the Italy-Africa Initiative presented on 30 December 2013. <\/P>
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Ghana and Senegal are looking with conviction to economic growth and improvements to their infrastructure, which makes them fertile ground for the internationalisation of Italian businesses. During her visit to Accra and Dakar Minister Bonino will also reiterate Italy\u2019s commitment in a number of key sectors in the region, from governance to human rights, from the environment to cultural cooperation. <\/P>
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Accra: Bonino to meet Tetteh to discuss \u201cWomen in Diplomacy\u201d<\/STRONG><\/P> Ghana and its capital, Accra, will be the first stage of Minister Bonino\u2019s trip. There, she will meet her colleague Hanna Tetteh, a board member of \u201cWomen in Diplomacy\u201d, in which context she visited Rome on 14 November 2013. Minister Tetteh has a keen interest in women\u2019s empowerment and the issue of female genital mutilation. <\/P> After the bilateral, Minister Bonino will visit a development project for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) funded by Italy through the Ghana Private Sector Development Facility. The project is a sign that this country on Africa\u2019s Atlantic seaboard is ready to embark on stable and continuing economic growth. According to the World Bank, as early as 2015 the country could graduate from \u201cpoor country\u201d to \u201cmedium income\u201d status, thanks to projected growth of at least 7% in coming years. <\/P> 7% growth makes Ghana one of Africa\u2019s most dynamic economies<\/STRONG><\/P> This potential will be one of the leitmotifs of Foreign Minister Bonino\u2019s visit to Ghana, whose leading suppliers in 2012 were China, Nigeria and the Netherlands, with Italy the second customer for its exports, after France. Today, infrastructure, agriculture, waste management and construction could open new doors for our companies, in addition to those already opened by Ghana\u2019s natural resources. <\/P> Ghana will also be taking part in EXPO 2015, through the \u201cCacao Cluster\u201d, and, along with Italy, looks set to be one of the most active countries in the \u201cWomen for EXPO\u201d initiative. An exchange of views on the United Nations reforms and a revitalisation of political relations, not least in the context of the Italy-Africa initiative, are the other topics for discussion during Emma Bonino\u2019s mission to Accra. <\/P> Dakar: visit to focus on UN reform, regional dossiers and gender issues<\/STRONG><\/P> On 7 January Minister Bonino will be travelling to Dakar. Here, she will meet Foreign Minister Mankeur Ndiaye and other members of the Senegalese government, as well as representatives of the Italian community in Senegal. Topics for discussion during the bilateral include the UN Security Council reform, gender issues and regional dossiers. Italian Development Cooperation\u2019s 2014-16 Country Programme for Senegal, as a priority country in West Africa, will also be discussed. <\/P> Political dialogue, cultural relations, development cooperation and cooperation in the justice, defence and policing sectors are some of the subjects Minister Bonino will discuss with her Senegalese hosts. Economic opportunities are another focus of her mission, especially in a country that has never seen coups d\u2019\u00e9tat and which, in a troubled region (with the crisis in Mali in the forefront), is a beacon for stabilisation. President Macky Sall has introduced a broad platform of reforms, eliminating the Senate to cut the costs of politics and thus increasing the funds available to rebuild the areas hit by flooding in 2012. <\/P> EXPO 2015 and the Italy-Africa initiative will give new impetus to economic relations with Senegal<\/STRONG><\/P> Tourism, construction, agri-food, fishing, renewable energy and telecommunications are the sectors holding out most potential for economic collaboration with Senegal, which saw economic growth of 3.7% in 2012. The country\u2019s natural leading trade partner is France, while in 2011 Italy was its second foreign investor, ahead even of the Chinese. We are Senegal\u2019s 14th supplier country and the 10th customer for its exports. EXPO 2015, where Dakar will have its own space in the \u201cAgriculture and Nutrition in Arid Regions\u201d cluster, will provide another impetus for Italian-Senegalese economic relations. <\/P> In short, the Italy-Africa initiative sets the seal on our country\u2019s new engagement with Senegal and Ghana, and with the entire Sub-Saharan region. <\/P><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Revitalising economic relations, strengthening bilateral cooperation on gender issues and human rights, and regional dossiers and UN matters. These are the key topics for discussion during Foreign Minister Emma Bonino\u2019s mission to Ghana and Senegal from 5 to 8 January 2014. The mission, to two of the African continent\u2019s most stable countries, comes in the […]","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[31,29,32,3,43,44],"class_list":["post-14646","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-approfondimenti","tag-africa","tag-cooperazione-sviluppo","tag-diplomazia-culturale","tag-diplomazia-economica","tag-diritti-umani","tag-energia-ambiente"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14646\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.esteri.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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