Africa’s future will be shaped in its rural economies and areas. Today at @IFAD, I was pleased to co-host with Italy the event “Advancing the Italian Mattei Plan: Scaling Joint Investments in Agriculture and Food Systems.” The #MatteiPlan reflects an important shift in international cooperation with Africa: moving from traditional donor-recipient models towards equal-to-equal partnership, shared ownership, co-investment and mutual benefit. The third annual progress report to the Italian Parliament shows how this approach is moving from vision to implementation across priority areas including agriculture, water, energy, infrastructure, education and health, with IFAD recognized among the international partners supporting this agenda. This direction is closely aligned with IFAD’s mandate. We invest with governments and rural communities to strengthen smallholder agriculture, build resilient value chains, expand access to finance and markets, and create opportunities where they are needed most. Italy and IFAD’s collaboration under the Mattei Plan is now moving from alignment to implementation: Côte d’Ivoire is partnering with Italy and IFAD to advance a major milestone through the Agro-Industrial Pole Project in the North-East. Italy’s €100 million co-financing will complement IFAD’s US$75 million investment to support climate-adaptive agriculture, strengthen value chains and improve food and nutrition security for more than 35,000 rural families, around 220,000 people. The Government of Senegal is working with Italy, IFAD, @TheOPECFund and @EIB on a US$265 million co-investment programme to support food sovereignty and reach more than one million people. With Angola, we are exploring further collaboration in the coffee value chain, drawing on Italian expertise and private sector engagement. These examples show how public investment, technical expertise and private sector partnerships can come together to deliver lasting impact at the first mile of food systems. With more than 60 per cent of IFAD’s portfolio in Africa, and with our country presence, IFAD is a strong partner of the Mattei Plan. As we look towards #IFAD14, with its focus on market integration, employment and resilience, this partnership offers a strong operational platform to scale joint investments with African countries. My thanks to the Government of Italy, Ambassadors from our African Member States, institutional partners and private sector actors for today’s important discussion and for their shared commitment to investing in rural prosperity. @ItalyMFA_int | @GruppoCDP | @Palazzo_Chigi | @SocialMasaf | @MEF_GOV

With @AECID_es' new Statute, #Spain places multilateralism and the #SDGs at the heart of its foreign policy. Today, I congratulated Minister of Foreign Affairs @jmalbares and @AECID_es Director @anton_leis on the achievement and explored potential for collaboration with @IFAD.

A productive meeting in Madrid with Minister @LuisPlanas. @IFAD and #Spain are both committed to investing in rural resilience so farmers can handle climate, economic or social upheaval. As partners we agree: thriving rural areas are the cornerstone of a more stable world.

Pleasure to meet with PM @sanchezcastejon today. #Spain is a vital @IFAD partner: a champion of financial innovation and locally-driven rural development. Ahead of #FfD4, we are committed to ensuring no one is left behind in the pursuit of a fairer, more sustainable world.

Thank you, #Sweden, for your generous contribution to @IFAD's 13th Replenishment. Your continued support strengthens our partnership and plays a vital role in transforming the livelihoods of millions of the world’s most vulnerable rural people. bit.ly/4ixK5pa

Thank you #Denmark for your generous Core Additional Climate Contribution to @IFAD of DKK 129 million. I had the pleasure of receiving confirmation of this in person from @MFASustGrowth at #COP29. Together, we are supporting poor rural people as they adapt to climate change.

For every $18 spent on climate mitigation, only $1 is spent on adaptation - and just 0.8% goes to small-scale agriculture. I spoke to @adaptationfund's Mikko Ollikainen about what @IFAD is doing to address this gap, like our 45% target of core resources going to climate action.

66 countries, US$1.34 billion: this a record-breaking step forward on our path to @IFAD’s biggest replenishment ever. I thank all the Member States pledging today and in the past few months for their support. My full remarks at #IFADGoverningCouncil: bit.ly/3SWtosM