20 April 2015, Rome, Italy - Lapo Pistelli (third from right), Vice Minister, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Italy, speaking at an event organized to acknowledge the successful implementation of the FAO-Eataly partnership. (From left): Marcela Villareal, Director of FAO's Office for Partnerships, Advocacy and Capacity Development; Ambassador Pierfrancesco Sacco, Italian Permanent Representative to FAO; Jose Graziano da Silva, FAO Director-General; Alberto Mosca, Managing Director of Eataly, Rome; Mulugeta Alemseged Gessese, Permanent Representative of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to FAO.
The initiative has supported an Ethiopian women's cooperative in the Tigray region of Ethiopia to produce more than 1,500 kg of cactus pear jam in line with Ethiopian and European food safety standards, packaged in 4,000 jars and currently on sale at Eataly in Rome.
The collaboration has allowed Ethiopian women farmers to access international markets and increase their incomes that will allow using the revenues to expand the output and variety of their production.The support for the cooperative and the development of new agricultural products is part of a larger, broader development initiative undertaken in partnership between FAO and the governments of Ethiopia and Italy, to which the Italian Development Cooperation has provided approximately $9 million in funding support over the past eight years.