Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Hon. Edmondo Cirielli, led the Italian delegation in Seville at the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4), the main UN event on the 2025 agenda specifically dedicated to financial instruments for supporting development cooperation projects. The delegation included, in addition to officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, representatives from the Ministry of Economy and Finance, the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS), and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP).
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Deputy Minister spoke at the side event dedicated to the “Italian Call to Action”—a project aimed at providing training and technical assistance for cooperation initiatives using innovative financial instruments, thanks also to CDP’s commitment in this area in partner countries. The Call to Action builds on an excellence project launched in collaboration with the National School of Administration (SNA) in Caserta, to train senior officials from Italy’s partner countries in Africa, in line with the spirit of the Mattei Plan.
“Although it remains essential to increase the quantity of resources allocated to development aid—as Italy has done in 2024—we believe it is crucial to improve the quality and systemic impact of public resources to ensure better debt management, more effective mobilization of domestic resources, and greater capacity to attract sustainable investments,” commented the Deputy Minister.
Hon. Cirielli also highlighted the importance of the Italian debt initiative for Africa announced by Prime Minister Meloni, noting that over the next ten years, 100% of the debt of the least developed African countries and 50% of the debt of low- and middle-income African countries will be converted into development accelerators, aligned with the strategies of African partners interested in Italy’s Cooperation projects.
As part of the Conference proceedings, AICS Director Marco Rusconi participated in the side event “Cooperation Agencies: Translating the Ambition of FfD4 into Concrete Actions on the Ground,” organized by AECID (Spain), ABC (Brazil), Norad (Norway), and AUDA-NEPAD (African Union).
