(Adnkronos) – Italy’s state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, development banks and financial institutions will unveil an accord that will be crucial in implementing a G7 scheme to for sustainable food security and nutrition, foreign minister Antonio Tajani said at a G7 development ministers meeting in Pescara on Thursday.
“We are fully aware of the important role that financial institutions can play in promoting development and in taking concrete steps towards a more just and sustainable world,” Tajani stated.
“I am extremely satisfied that at the G7 development ministers summit in Pescara, the CDP, other public development banks and G7 development financial institutions have decided to launch the Agreement on Sustainable Food Systems,” Tajani continued.
“This will represent a fundamental tool for implementing the G7 Apulia Food Systems Initiative (AFSI), our pragmatic and concrete approach towards development,” Tajani said.
Named after the Southern Italian region which hosted a G7 leaders’ summit in July, AFSI will aim to overcome structural barriers to food security and nutrition, with a focus on low-income countries. AFSI plans to support projects in Africa, which Italy has made one of its top priorities during its G7 presidency this year.
AFSI, whose details are currently being thrashed out by G7 development ministers, drew initial criticism from African agricultural groups, who complained they had not been consulted, although small farmers will be crucial to the scheme’s success.
