Development cooperation: Prince’s Government and AFD renew partnership agreement

Accord AFD 1 © Manuel Vitali - Direction de la Communication

Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, and Bertrand Walckenaer, Deputy CEO of the French Development Agency (AFD) signed a renewed framework partnership agreement on development cooperation in Monaco on Thursday 19 January.

Thirteen years after they began their partnership, the Government and the AFD updated the terms of their collaboration. Shared priorities have changed since 2010, and are now based on the United Nations 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

In the presence of H.E. Mr Laurent Stefanini, France’s Ambassador to the Principality, the partners took stock of the convergence of priorities on official development assistance and laid the groundwork for future collaboration.

Isabelle Berro-Amadeï welcomed the fact that “Monaco and France are united on the need to increase international solidarity, target the least developed countries as a priority and step up direct support to civil society stakeholders.”

For his part, Bertrand Walckenaer reiterated “the importance for AFD of working in synergy with other partners, such as the Principality of Monaco. This allows us to diversify expertise and mobilise additional resources with an end purpose in mind: improving the social and environmental impact of France’s official development assistance.”

Both emphasised the importance of coordinating their action in sectors with a high impact on human development: health, education and child protection, access to decent jobs and food security. The systematic integration of efforts to combat climate change and improve gender equality is also a shared priority.

This signature marks a joint determination to pursue high-quality collaboration, as demonstrated by 13 years of technical dialogue between Monaco’s International Cooperation Department and the AFD, as well as numerous projects co-funded in Africa or the Mediterranean.

The AFD is the main institution through which France’s official development assistance policy is implemented. The AFD’s projects are concentrated in four areas: Africa (priority area, attracting 43% of resources), Eurasia and beyond* (29%), the Three Oceans** and Latin America.

* Includes the Western Balkans, Turkey, the South Caucasus (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia) and Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan).

** Includes overseas territories and neighbouring foreign states in three geographical basins: the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific.