Thank you Chair,
Your Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues,
Let me first thank you for this timely and interesting meeting on the financial and technological means to achieve Sustainable Development for all.
Italy is engaged in a renewed approach towards development finance, thanks to our commitment in multilateral fora as well on a bilateral basis.
We believe in the importance of official development aid, with our overall contribution that has increased in 2024. However, ODA alone is not sufficient to achieve the Agenda 2030 in its entirety.
We consider even more foundational the leverage of public finance to unlock private investment, engage in inclusive partnerships and promote capacity building to achieve long lasting development.
To this end, we launched in Seville, together with Kenya and the OECD, a call to action on Capacity Building and Technical Assistance, with the aim to provide high-level training to more than 1,400 public officials from four African countries.
Moreover, our new Debt-for-Development Swap Initiative, will cancel 100% of the debt for the African LDCs and 50% of debt for lower-middle-income African countries over the next ten years.
Finally, our side event on Monday 21st will further dwell into how public-private partnerships can act as a driver of digitalization in the agro-industrial sector.
International financing is pivotal, but today development requires the technological capacities to face the challenges of tomorrow.
AI is universally considered one of the most timely instrument to achieve the SDGs, and as Italy we are playing our part through the establishment of the Rome’s AI Hub for Sustainable Development, launched on June 20th together with UNDP.
A legacy of Italy’s G7 Presidency of 2024, the AI Hub promises a fundamental paradigm shift, centering African innovators from 14 countries in shaping the global AI agenda, making sure that the continent is not left behind in the race to Artificial Intelligence solutions for development.
All these elements are encompassed by our Mattei Plan for Africa. Together with our projects in other regions of the world, they show our commitment to help our partners across the globe to achieve the SDGs.
We will stand firm on this path.
Thank you!
