Isabelle Berro-Amadeï pays official visit to Niger

Published on 30 March 2023 at 16:05 - Modified the 21 June 2023 at 10:35

From 18 to 25 March 2023, a Monegasque delegation* led by Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, paid an official visit to Niger to meet local partners and beneficiaries of projects supported by Monaco’s Department of International Cooperation, and to hold discussions with senior Nigerien officials. In this context, the first bilateral commission for cooperation was held between the two countries in Niamey.

VO Niger - IRAM

©DCI - Projet IRAM Filière lait

The visit was an opportunity to strengthen links with the country’s authorities. The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation was granted an audience with the Nigerien head of state H.E. Mohamed Bazoum. Isabelle Berro-Amadeï also met Prime Minister Mahamadou Ouhoumoudou as well as the ministers of foreign affairs, public health, trade, humanitarian action and agriculture.

During the first session of the bilateral commission for cooperation, which followed on from the framework cooperation agreement signed in 2019, the two countries highlighted their shared determination to pursue and develop their discussions on development strategies and joint areas for cooperation, including on food and nutrition security, health, education, child protection and access to decent work.

Isabelle Berro-Amadeï emphasised that the work of the Monaco Department of International Cooperation in Niger was guided by “a desire to contribute to the national priorities of developing human capital, inclusion, solidarity and the structural transformation of the economy, while focusing particularly on protecting and assisting vulnerable groups all over the country.”

The week-long working visit resulted in the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding on Supporting the National Food Crisis Prevention and Management System until 2025, and the renewal of the framework agreement on the health sector.

The Monegasque delegation also visited local partners and beneficiaries. There were many project visits and working meetings, providing a comprehensive overview of the projects supported by the Prince’s Government in Niger. Meetings were held with Nigerien civil society (including the NGO CAMDED which works to coordinate multisectoral action for sustainable development and the Association de Lutte contre la Drépanocytose, which focuses on sickle-cell disease), with international NGOs (GRET, Action Against Hunger, French Red Cross) and with United Nations agencies (World Food Programme, UN Refugee Agency, UNICEF).

During these many discussions, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation reiterated the strong and friendly links between the two countries and the Principality’s support for Niger over more than 20 years. Highlighting the climate crisis, “whose repercussions are being felt with increasingly regular frequency in Niger, particularly in terms of food security,” she said that “it was important to show our support by directing a portion of the increase in our Official Development Assistance to actions that will strengthen the resilience of vulnerable groups.”

***

* The Monegasque delegation was made up of Isabelle Berro-Amadeï, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (head of delegation), Mahamadou Idrissa, Monaco’s Honorary Consul in Niger, Yordanos Pasquier, Deputy Director and Niger Programme Manager at the Department of International Cooperation, Abdoulaye Douka, the Department of International Cooperation’s Country Coordinator for Niger, and Charlotte Dolfer, Programme Assistant for Niger at the Department of International Cooperation.