(Adnkronos) – Overseas development aid delivered through equitable partnerships and technology transfer burnishes Italy’s image in the world, foreign minister Antonio Tajani told a conference in Rome on Friday.
“Development aid represents Italy’s image in the world. We do not have a colonial or hegemonic approach, but rather a commitment to equal partnerships, thanks to our ability to adapt and empathise with places where we operate abroad,” Tajani said in an address to the third national conference on overseas aid cooperation (Coopera).
Italy’s foreign policy aims to project “a positive image of our country’s development cooperation,” he said.
“This a beautiful image, because we live in a country where, despite all economic difficulties, life is good, and we have a duty to help other human beings who are worse off,” Tajani underlined.
Africa “is a very rich continent, inhabited in some parts by poor populations,” Tajani noted.
“But if we help with mining, to develop agriculture and provide different technologies… then we can become exporters of development in that part of the world,” he argued.
The two-day Coopera conference focuses on Italy’s responses to major global challenges, humanitarian emergencies, food security and health, and how Italy builds partnerships and fosters sustainable growth and dialogue with countries in Africa and worldwide, according to a foreign ministry statement.
Wednesday’s sessions of the conference centre on the major challenges facing the world such as education and training, as well on Rome’s 5.5 billion Mattei Plan to propel Africa’s economic development. The plan is being developed along five main policy pillars: education and training; agriculture; health; water; and energy.
Italy’s deputy foreign minister Edmondo Cirielli, health minister Orazio Schillaci and agriculture minister Francesco Lollobrigida are also taking part in the conference, as well as civil society and international organisations, academics, business representatives, leading cultural and sports figures and personalities from the world of entertainment.
