Deputy Minister Edmondo Cirielli chaired the sixth meeting of the Joint Committee for Development Cooperation of 2024

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs responsible for International Cooperation, Hon. Edmondo Cirielli, chaired the sixth meeting of the Joint Committee for Development Cooperation of 2024, which adopted a major package of interventions with a total value of 531 million euros.

The initiatives adopted are a concrete operational follow-up to the adoption - by the Joint Committee chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Antonio Tajani, in June - of the 2024 Programming of Italian Development Cooperation. Africa is still the main beneficiary of grants: among others, important programs were adopted in the Ivory Coast, Ethiopia and the Republic of Congo in the health and education sectors, in line with the Mattei Plan, as well as in Burkina Faso, Chad, Egypt, Ghana, Libya, Niger and Senegal in the sectors of health, education, food security, cultural heritage, employment and job creation.

Initiatives were also adopted in Ukraine and Moldova (energy security); in Iraq, Jordan Bosnia and Herzegovina (safeguarding cultural heritage); and in Albania, in the ASEAN countries, in El Salvador, Palestine and Syria. The Joint Committee also expressed a favourable opinion on the financing proposal by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti in favour of the Brazilian bank Banco do Brasil to support sustainable development projects.

The noteworthy contributions to international organizations include those to Africa - through the CIHEAM of Bari - to strengthen agri-food ecosystems in Senegal; to the OECD for the Virtual Platform on Investment in Africa; to Bioversity International for strengthening food systems in Eastern and Southern Africa.

Seven Heads of AICS offices in Africa were also appointed: Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), Dakar (Senegal), Cairo (Egypt), Kampala (Uganda), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) and Tunis (Tunisia).