Policy Updates

On June 20, 2024, Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani attended a conference, titled Protecting Our Future—The Global Forum for Vaccine Sovereignty and Innovation, and announced a contribution of US$150 million to AVMA.

The conference was organized by France in partnership with Gavi and the Africa Center for Disease Control.

AVMA aims to enable the purchase of over 800 million doses of locally produced vaccines, with the ambitious goal of producing at least 60% of the vaccine doses required on the continent by 2040.

In his speech, Tajani reaffirmed appreciation and strong Italian support for Gavi. He invited Gavi chair José Emanuel Barroso to the G7 Ministers of Development Summit in on October 24 and 25, 2024, in Pescara, Italy.

On May 23-25, 2024, the G7 Ministers of Finance met at a summit in Stresa, Italy, where the ministers voiced support for contributions to the IDA, WHO, Gavi, and the Global Fund in the resulting communiqué.

The G7 ministers supported efforts towards a successful 21^st replenishment of the IDA by the end of 2024 through an ambitious policy and financing package. Notably, they did not give a concrete signal that the critical US$100 billion threshold requested by the World Bank will be crossed, nor any indication of the US$120 billion expected by African leaders.

The ministers reaffirmed their dedication to strengthening the governance and finance of the global health architecture and voiced support for refinancing processes of several GHIs, such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the WHO, and the Global Fund, and expressed support for the Pandemic Fund. The communiqué called on the donor community to coordinate efforts and increase investments in global health in line with their capacities to ensure sustainable funding and maximize the impact of available resources.

Following the summit, the C7 pointed out the G7's lack of ambition and financial commitment to international development, including climate adaptation. International civil society organizations criticized the lack of any reference to allocating SDRs to global solidarity.

On May 14-15, 2024, the C7 summit was held at the UN FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, organized by the Italian Civil Society Coalition that led, coordinated, and moderated the C7 2024 process.

Approximately 400 global representatives took part in the event, as well as international decision-makers, including FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, Italian G7 sherpa Ambassador Elisabetta Belloni, Cardinal, President of the Italian Episcopal Conference, Pope’s envoy for the Russian-Ukrainian conflict Matteo Maria Zuppi, and Director of the UN SDG Action Campaign Marina Ponti.

The official C7 communiqué that listed the international civil society recommendation to the G7’s Leaders around seven key issues was released at the event, which included:

• Economic justice and transformation;
• Climate, energy transformation, and environmental justice;
• Global health;
• Principled humanitarian assistance;
• Peace, common security, and nuclear disarmament;
• Human mobility and migration; and
• Food justice and food systems transformation.

On April 30, 2024, it was announced that, as a part of the G7 Finance Track, the Italian MEF and ISTAT will host the seventh edition of the OECD World Forum on Wellbeing, entitled Strengthening Wellbeing Approaches for a Changing World, in Rome from November 4-6, 2024.

The event is part of the G7 Finance Track promoted by the Italian government. The Forum will be structured into five round tables that will discuss topics, including:

• The development of policy frameworks oriented towards equitable and sustainable well-being;
• The measurement and statistical methodology, as well as the analysis of well-being indicators;
• Climate change;
• Technological innovation and the use of artificial intelligence; and
• The next steps in the well-being agenda.

Other topics to be addressed include gender inequalities, inequalities and poverty, physical and mental health, and the aging population.

On April 17-19, 2024, the G7's Ministers of Foreign Affairs met in Capri, Italy, and released a communiqué summarizing the intents and goals of Italy's G7 presidency.

A new meeting is planned in Fiuggi in autumn 2024. The G7 Minister of Development's meeting in Pescara is scheduled for the end of October. The Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs is committed to continually working on some of the most urgent international crises.

The G7 Ministers expressed concern about rising food insecurity and malnutrition stemming from the combined impact of climate change, loss, and degradation of ecosystems, the growing number of conflicts, inflationary pressures, and the reduced fiscal space in many developing economies.

The ministers also emphasized the importance of strengthening PPR and global health, as well as supporting LGBTQI+ rights and SRHR. The communiqué also reaffirmed the need for strengthened international financial institutions and underscore the role of MDBs in achieving the SDGs, including in crisis-affected contexts.

On January 28 and 29, 2024, Italy hosted the Africa-Italy Summit, chaired by the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, during which 25 African leaders and diplomats joined Italian and EU leaders to launch the pilot programs of Italy's flagship foreign policy initiative, also known as the Mattei Plan for Africa.

Meloni announced EUR5.5 billion (US$6 billion) in credits, grants, and guarantees under the plan. EUR3 billion (US$3.3 billion) will come from the Italian Climate Fund, as announced at COP28, and EUR2.5 billion (US$2.7 billion) will come from the newly created multilateral fund at the African Development Bank.

Rome identified a set of countries in the SSA and North African regions to begin implementing the plan, and noted aims to expand the list. Among the first projects announced were:

• A large vocational training center on renewable energy in Morocco;
• Education projects in Tunisia; and
• Health accessibility in the Ivory Coast.

Other projects are planned in Algeria, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mozambique, and the DRC.

Priority areas of intervention were announced as:

• Education and training: Interventions will be aimed to promote training teachers, adjusting curricula, launching new vocational and training courses in line with the needs of the labor market, and collaborating with enterprises, particularly involving Italian operators and the Italian SMEs model;
• Agriculture: Interventions will be aimed at decreasing malnutrition rates, fostering the development of agri-food supply chains, and supporting the development of non-fossil biofuels. The development of family farming, the preservation of forestry, and combating and adapting to climate change through integrated agriculture are considered fundamental;
• Health: Interventions will be aimed to promote strengthening health systems, improving accessibility and quality of primary MNCH services, strengthening local capacities for the management, training, and employment of health personnel, research, and digitalization, and developing strategies and systems to prevent and contain health threats, particularly pandemics and natural disasters; and
• Energy: Interventions will be aimed to make Italy an energy hub, acting as a bridge between Europe and Africa. Interventions will feature the climate-energy nexus to strengthen energy efficiency and the use of renewable energies, with initiatives to accelerate energy transition.
• Water: interventions will involve drilling wells powered by photovoltaic systems, maintenance of pre-existing water points, investments in distribution networks, and awareness-raising activities about using clean, potable water.

On November 22, 2023, the Italian Joint Development Cooperation Committee approved additional resources to mitigate the effects of war on Ukrainian and Palestinian civilians, totalling EUR17 million (US$18 million) for Ukraine and EUR5 million (US$5 million) for Palestine.

The committee also approved a package of initiatives, including EUR8 million (US$8.7 million) for Africa, focusing on food security, health, education, and training aimed at professional improvement.

Resources for Tunisia were approved at a total of EUR3 million (US$3 million) for 2024, an increase compared to 2023 programming. Italy has emphasized Tunisia as a priority partner.

The committee voted to approve the channeled allocation of EUR998 million (US$1 billion) in funds for development cooperation initiatives in 2024. The allocations detailed:

• EUR537 million (US$586 million) to bilateral cooperation;
• EUR271 million(US$295 million) to emergency funding; and
• EUR190 million (US$207 million) to multilateral cooperation.

The committee also approved a contribution of EUR2 million(US$2 million) for the Balkan region to strengthen disaster preparedness and response capacities in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Finally, the Committee gave a favorable opinion on two initiatives proposed by Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, which included:

• Financing projects related to the agricultural and agribusiness supply chain through the West African Development Bank; and
• Refinancing of a line of credit in Latin America and the Caribbean in support of investments in the environmental sector and the fight against climate change.

On November 3rd, the Italian Council of the Ministries approved the decree that defined the governance and the scope of the four-year Mattei Plan.

The Mattei Plan will aim to strengthen collaborative initiatives between Italy and African states to identify, define, and implement initiatives in the following areas:

• International cooperation;
• Imports, exports, and the promotion of investments;
• Education, R&D, and innovation;
• Global health;
• Agriculture and food security;
• Sustainable supply and use of natural resources, including water and energy;
• Environmental protection and adaptation;
• Modernization of infrastructure, including digital infrastructure;
• Support for entrepreneurship, in particular, youth and women's entrepreneurship;
• Tourism and culture; and
• Prevention and countering of irregular migration and management of legal migration flows.

The decree established a Steering Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, with the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation as vice-chairman. Included in the committee were other head ministers, the Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Deputy Minister of Industry and Made in Italy, the President of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, the director of AICS, the President of the ITA, representatives from Italian MDBs, and representatives from publicly-owned enterprises, universities, civil society, and private entities.

The decree established that the Prime Minister's office would host the secretariat of the Mattei Plan. The secretariat will support the President to implement and coordinate the Mattei Plan and its updates, as well as lead the secretariat of the Steering Committee and prepare an annual report to Parliament.

On June 9, 2023, Italy's Joint Committee for Development Cooperation approved EUR66 million (US$71 million) worth of projects for partner countries.

African partners comprised the main regional focus of funding, including an EUR10 million (US$11 million) grant to support job development for women and young adults.

Bilateral contributions in the package focused on international organizations, particularly those working in global health and the UN system. Key partnerships included UNICEF, UNESCO, the WHO, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and the Bari Overseas Agronomic Institute. The projects particularly targeted food security, climate adaptation, and gender equality.

In addition, the committee adopted a resolution to establish an AICS office in Kyiv, Ukraine to showcase the Italy's ongoing support for the country.

On May 24, 2023, Civil Society 7 released its review of the May 2023 G7 Hiroshima Summit.

The report looked at six topics, including the nuclear disarmament, climate and environmental justice, the transition to a fair economy, global health, humanitarian aid and conflict, and a resilient and open society, and presented the following findings:

• Nuclear Disarmament: The G7 summit did not focus on nuclear disarmament, and its leaders did not show any commitment to starting time-bound negotiations. While condemning Russia’s nuclear threats, they justified their own nuclear weapons as being for defense and deterrence;
• Climate and Environmental Justice: The G7 summit acknowledged the need to strengthen adaptation measures, enhance resilience support for vulnerable groups, and increase support to the most vulnerable countries for avoiding, minimizing, and addressing losses and damages. It emphasized the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, including non-CO2 gases, and reaffirmed commitment to global methane reduction efforts. However, the report argued that the G7’s approach to climate change, in particular its descriptions of fossil fuels, is far from ideal;
• Transition to a Fair Economy: The G7 summit prioritized “economic security” from its perspective rather than focusing on resolving challenges faced by partner countries. It aimed to decouple supply chains from China, but such decoupling could impose additional burdens on developing countries. The summit lacked strong commitments regarding debt restructuring, international negotiations, and debt cancellation. It also weakened the organization's stance on business and human rights;
• Global Health: The G7 summit fell short of expectations due to time constraints and limitations imposed by Japan. It failed to address intellectual property rights as a key factor in addressing the pandemic and ensuring equitable access to therapeutics. The summit lacked specific commitments, and its focus was more on ordering and reaffirming previous pledges rather than providing the required funding and technological contributions;
• Humanitarian Aid and Conflict: The G7 summit's commitment of US$21 billion in support, with particular focus on addressing food crises and prioritizing education, was welcomed. However, apart from this financial commitment, the summit lacked clear and concrete commitments. It failed to mention the importance of strengthening local leadership and access to humanitarian aid and protection; and
• Resilient and Open Society: The G7 summit did not address the concept of an open society or democracy in its statements. It neglected to discuss civic space and shrinking civil society, and its focus on democracy mainly revolved around countering information warfare. The summit did not address issues like digital space safety, fake news, freedom of expression, or topics covered in previous G7 meetings. The treatment of non-regular immigrants and their dire situations was a significant problem. The summit lacked references to freedom of expression and did not improve citizen participation or support for civil society organizations.

C7 aims to achieve a society envisioned by the SDGs that leaves no one behind, and its criticism of the G7 Hiroshima Summit was presented as a means of holding leaders to account for their role in building a better world.