Secretary General Guariglia to chair the Area Meeting of Ambassadors and Directors of Italian Cooperation in West Africa

At the behest of the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, the Secretary General of Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ambassador Riccardo Guariglia, will chair in Abidjan an area meeting of the Ambassadors and Directors of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) offices in West Africa on 4 and 5 May, focusing on the prospects for strengthening Italian interventions in the framework of the Mattei Plan.

The meeting, which follows on from the one dedicated to East African countries held in Dar es Salaam on 16 and 17 March, will be attended by the Ambassadors and Heads of the AICS offices competent for the following countries: Burkina Faso, Cameroon (for Chad), Congo, Ivory Coast, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal. The Diplomatic Advisor to the Italian Prime Minister and Coordinator of the Mission Structure for the Mattei Plan set up at the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Fabrizio Saggio, will also be attending.

The meeting in Abidjan will be held in conjunction with the final stage of the joint mission of the Italian cooperation system (with representatives from the Italian Presidency of the Council of Ministers, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, AICS, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, officials from the Italian Ministry of the Interior, the Italian Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security, as well as representatives from a number of international organisations, civil society and the private sector) being held in Guinea, Ghana, Senegal and the Ivory Coast.