Italian Embassy to Jakarta and Italian Agency for Development Cooperation – Hanoi Office
Joint Press Release
Jakarta – The fifth ASEAN Italy Development Partnership Committee took place in Jakarta, Indonesia. Representing Italy were the Italian Ambassador to Jakarta, Roberto Colaminè, the Deputy Central Director for Asia and the Pacific at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Valentina Muiesan, and the Head of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation office in Hanoi, Margherita Lulli.
The Italy-ASEAN Development Partnership, in effect since September 2020, aims to strengthen relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations for the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific. The Practical Cooperation Areas, priority areas of collaboration for the period 2022-2026, focus on the political-security, economic, and socio-cultural sectors, with the goal of promoting connectivity and supporting a shared development gap in areas of common interest and expertise.
“The Italy–ASEAN Development Partnership has entered a very dynamic and productive phase. Since 2020, with the adoption of the Practical Cooperation Areas, we have jointly achieved remarkable results, with the prospect of further progress ahead” stated Ambassador Colaminè.
Numerous capacity-building activities have been developed with ASEAN countries across multiple sectors. The recent capacity-building initiatives on combating economic crime (Falcone and Borsellino Programme) and on promoting a culture of legality and mechanisms to strengthen judicial cooperation (Rosario Livatino initiative) have just been successfully concluded. Meanwhile, within the framework of Development Cooperation, the ‘COOPMEC’ and ‘3S’ projects are being launched, as part of joint efforts on sustainable agriculture and fisheries, as well as on the circular economy, and in line with ASEAN’s priorities on food security.
“In the context of Southeast Asian, which is rapidly evolving and highly exposed to climate risks, these initiatives represent an important aspect of our cooperation. At the same time, we are working on new proposals, through a participatory and mutual exchange approach with the ASEAN Secretariat, combining ASEAN’s priorities with Italian expertise,” stated Dr. Lulli, Head of Development Cooperation at AICS Hanoi.
