The Minister of Agriculture, Celso Correia, yesterday described his visit to Italy as positive, saying that funding commitments of 131 million dollars had been "secured".

"The visits went well and lived up to our expectations, in other words, we confirmed the alignment with all the cooperation partners we met," said Celso Correia, quoted by Lusa, in a statement from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MADER), taking stock of the two-day visit to Rome.

According to the document, during the visit "funding commitments were secured from the World Food Program (WFP) for 55 million dollars, from the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for around 23 million dollars, which includes emergency response, and 53 million dollars from Italian cooperation".

"We have to bridge the gap from humanitarian assistance to development programs. This is the approach we really needed," he added.

"It's very good that, here in Rome, we've confirmed this alignment with the partners," said Celso Correia, who met during his two-day visit with officials from the WFP, IFAD and the Italian Minister for Agriculture, Sovereignty, Food and Forestry.

"Now we have to take these understandings and turn them into action on the ground," he concluded.