Development Ministers’ Meeting

20/10/2024

Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani will chair the G7 Development Ministers’ Meeting from October 22nd to October 24th. The meeting will be attended by the G7 Development Ministers, the European Commissioner for International Partnerships, the Ministers of invited partner countries, heads of International Organisations and representatives from the business world.

Against a background of global challenges that threaten sustainable and inclusive development, the main objective of the meeting is to consolidate the new strategic approach to Africa promoted by Italy and based on equal partnerships and shared economic growth. To this end, the Pescara proceedings will be centred on three priority themes: food security and sustainable agri-food systems, sustainable infrastructure and investment, and global health.

The G7 Ministers and their guests will be following up on the commitments made by the G7 Leaders in the Borgo Egnazia Final Communiqué as part of the G7 Apulia Food Systems Initiative (AFSI), with particular reference to the connections between climate and agri-food systems, between finance and climate and to the crucial issue of child malnutrition.

Water and access to water resources will also be discussed, as well as new strategies for the sustainability of coffee value chains, with special attention to the needs of smallholder farmers in Africa. Italian and international industry representatives from the coffee sector will also participate in the discussion.

During the session devoted to the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), the G7 Ministers and their guests will discuss a number of projects with high transformative potential – such as the Lobito Corridor – and their synergies with the Mattei Plan for Africa and the European Union’s Global Gateway. The aim is to promote public and private investment in sustainable and inclusive infrastructure in partner countries, with a focus on the African continent.

The G7 Ministers and their guests will discuss education, health and inequalities in access to and distribution of prevention, treatment and diagnostic tools, particularly in Africa. Together with representatives from the private sector, joint strategies to strengthen production capacity in African countries to safeguard the health of local populations and global health security will be explored.

The G7 Ministers will visit, in the centre of Pescara, the installation of the #TogetherforSDGs campaign, an important public information activity devoted to the UN 2030 Agenda and to the work of Italian Development Cooperation.