The governments of Rwanda and Italy on July 8 signed a 50-million-euro financing agreement through the Italian Climate Fund. Managed by prominent Italian development bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), the fund will be disbursed through the Italian Climate Fund to reinforce Rwanda’s climate policy agenda. ALSO READ: National budget increases by 11%, climate change among priorities The Italian Climate Fund is the innovative financial instrument promoted by the Italian government to support climate finance projects in developing countries and emerging markets. ALSO READ: ‘Green Gicumbi’ to strengthen district’s climate resilience During the virtual signing, Rwanda and Italy, were represented by the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning and the Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, respectively. According to a related press release, the agreement, part of the Italian Mattei Plan’s energy security approach towards Africa, aims to support Rwanda’s National Climate Action Plan and to bolster Rwanda's climate policy agenda by enhancing its resilience and adaptive capacity to the impact of global warming. ALSO READ: Rwanda, Italy strengthen cooperation in defense, agriculture As noted, the allocated resources will be made available upon the achievement of a package of policy and institutional reforms that will integrate aspects of climate change mitigation and adaptation into the policy and regulatory framework. These reforms will be essential to achieve the national targets for carbon emission reduction. The Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Yusuf Murangwa, emphasized the significance of this agreement, stating, “Rwanda has placed climate action at the core of its development agenda, as evidenced by our National Determined Contributions (NDCs). “To effectively implement the mitigation and adaptation measures outlined in the NDCs, financial, capacity building and technology transfer are essential. Therefore, the agreement we have signed today will significantly contribute to this endeavor, estimated at US$ 11 billion.” Italy, through the Climate Fund, continues its efforts to create the best conditions for growth on the African continent, explained Italy’s Minister of Environment and Energy Security, Gilberto Pichetto. With Rwanda, we will invest in planning, which is necessary to address the major climate issues affecting that region. The financing is part of a broader partnership involving multilateral and bilateral financing institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) within the framework of leveraging the Resilience and Sustainability Facility agreement (RSF) worth an estimate of US$319 million already signed by the government of Rwanda with the IMF in 2022, and others such as the World Bank Group, the European Union (EU), European Investment Bank (EIB), and other European development financing institutions through the Team Europe Initiative, among others. In 2018, Rwanda and Italy signed an agreement that allowed the two countries to open skies for each other’s commercial airlines, under what is known as bilateral air services agreements in aviation terms.
