Helping rural China bloom
Zhou Shengxian (right), minister of the State Environmental Protection Administration, and Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio, Minister for Environment and Territory of Italy, shake hands at the the Sino-Italian Green Week in Beijing last July. |
The activities of the Italian Development Cooperation in China are compliant with the guidelines set by the Italian government for poverty reduction, coherent with the development priorities set by the Chinese government and are in line with the strategies of major international donors.
The total fund available is around $338 million, of which grant funds make up $56.38 million and soft loans comprise $281.89 million.
Beside the activities in cultural heritage sectors mentioned in page eight of this Sino-Italian Special, below is a short description of the Italian Development Cooperation's activities presented according to sector of intervention, as well as some of the on-going projects.
Environment protection
The Italian government, through DGCS, began to work in the environmental sector in China as early as the mid- 1990s with a financial commitment of about $40.8 million in the form of concessional loans.
Last September, during the visit of Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, two Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) were signed between the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Ministry of Finance in order to support two initiatives in the environmental sector, to be financed through Italian concessional loans worth $110.1 million.
The initiatives are an environmental program and a project for poverty reduction and rural development in Hetian Prefecture, the Xinjiang Ugyur Autonomous Region.
The total Italian financial commitment in the environmental program is equal to $94.7 million, out of which $94 million is composed of concessional loans for the financing of project activities and $738,350 is the grant component for the financing of a Program Implementation Unit (PIU) to support the projects proposed by local beneficiaries, through the Ministry of Finance and National Development and Reform Commission.
The PIU was established in 2006 and the most significant part of its dissemination activities was the organization of a seminar in Nanning, which saw participation from all the involved provincial departments of finance and development reform commissions.
A poverty reduction and rural development project in Hetian Prefecture in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region aims to fight desertification in an area of about 6,600 hectares within the "Pimo Ecological Demonstration Area" in Hetian Prefecture and to improve the living conditions of the local people, particularly regional minorities.
The project will be carried out over two years and will benefit from a total Italian financial commitment equal to $15.3 million, with $14.77 million as concessional loan component for financing the purchase of goods and works and $510,000 as grant component for technical assistance provided by both Italian and Chinese experts.
Health care
Sino-Italian cooperation in this sector supports initiatives to reduce poverty and social exclusion, particularly among the most vulnerable groups.
A MoU was signed between the Chinese Ministry of Finance and the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, establishing a program called "Support to the Chinese County and District Hospitals of Western and Central Provinces".
The program aims to contribute to improving diagnostic and therapeutic skills in about 20 hospitals at county and district level in the central and western provinces and regions, with particular focus on Jiangxi, Guizhou and Ningxia areas.
The initiative will be financed through a soft loan of $26 million for the supply of technical goods and related services.
About 30 project proposals submitted by county and district hospitals have undergone preliminary examination.
A health care project for women and children in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is financed by a grant fund of about $4.03 million and features provision of bio-medical equipment, as well as technical assistance for hospital staff and capacity building activities.
Italy also offers an institutional support for the formulation of laws and regulations aimed at the social integration of persons with disabilities.
The project is financed by a grant equal to $1.34 million and features a comparison of the two countries' systems of social integration of disabled people.
Education sector
A vocational training program to improve employability in Shaanxi and Sichuan provinces is in progress now.
Under the program, new equipment and technical assistance and training are provided in the two western provinces, in order to enhance the learning opportunities of approximately 30,000 students in the vocational training system, update the professional skills of unemployed people.
Activities under the project are expected to include the supply of equipment and didactic material for 15 project schools/centers, the improvement and renovation of at least 10 pilot school laboratories; training courses in Italy, technical assistance from Italian experts in China, as well as scholarships to Chinese universities or advanced research centers for 800 teachers and technicians of the project schools/centers and also for 2,400 managers and high-level technicians.
The total amount of Italian financing for the program is $52.01 million.
Poverty alleviation
A poverty alleviation project in Yunnan Province is financed by a grant of about $1.34 million and is aimed at improving the education capacity, rural health system and drinking water supply in Malipo and Jinping counties, two of the poorest and remotest counties in Yunnan Province,.
The project will also help local authorities carry out similar construction and rehabilitation activities and provide job opportunities, especially to local minorities.
The project aims at rebuilding two schools, one rural clinic, four rural water supply systems and one irrigation canal.
Italian Embassy in China provided the story.
(China Daily 06/05/2007 page27)
