Manila – Italy officially becomes the first foreign government to make a formal offer of public and private sector support for President Rody Duterte’s vision to develop the Bangsamoro Region.
Italy’s Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs Manlio Di Stefano conveyed his government’s interest in supporting and funding development programs in the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao during a call on the Philippine Agriculture Secretary Manny Piñol on Tuesday at the Department of Agriculture Central Office in Manila.
Undersecretary Di Stefano was accompanied by Italian Ambassador to the Philippines, Giorgio Guglielmino, and officials of Italy’s private financing groups.
Among the areas of interests mentioned by Undersecretary Di Stefano were the development of the farming and fishery sectors, the financing and construction of rural road networks and the dredging of the Rio Grande de Mindanao, a gargantuan task which could address perennial flooding in Central Mindanao.
With the dredging of the Rio Grande de Mindanao, floodwaters are expected to subside making arable hundreds of thousands of hectares of rich farmlands surrounding the Liguasan Marsh.
“We would like to be involved in the whole value chain of agriculture and fisheries,” Di Stefano said during his call.
“We will bring with us technology and corresponding funding coming from both the public and private sectors of Italy,” he said.
Di Stefano said recent developments in the Philippines, specifically President Duterte’s relentless and serious campaign against bureaucratic red tape and corruption, generated interest from both the public and private sectors in Italy to invest in the Philippines.
He also congratulated the Agriculture Secretary for building the reputation of the DA as a corruption-free agency of government.
“We have a huge foreign investments portfolio of about $175-B and we will be willing to invest part of this in the Philippines,” he said.
The Italian Government had earlier made an offer to modernise the facilities of the National Food Authority (NFA) offering to build typhoon and flood resistant grains processing and storage facilities.
With the passage of a new law reducing NFA’s role in the grains industry to just buffer stocking, the proposal was effectively shelved.
Di Stefano said that with the recent pronouncements of President Duterte directing the Agriculture Secretary to assist the newly-organised BARMM develop the region, the Italian government would now like to shift their offer of support to the area.
“We will follow wherever you go,” he told the Agriculture Secretary during the meeting.
The Italian officials were informed that the DA is now helping the BARMM Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Agrarian Reform (MAFAR) in crafting a 10-year Agriculture Master Plan.
It will involve the participation of all sectors in the region and the plan is expected to be completed before the end of August.
“By then, we would already be able to identify where you could possibly come in to support the region’s development,” the Agriculture Secretary told the Italian officials.
(Photos by Larry Nuestro, DA AFID)
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