Earlier today, representatives from Dubai Cares and Italy’s Emilia-Romagna Region presented the AIDITALY Sanitary Platform, a virtual humanitarian platform that will offer healthcare training, products and innovative solutions to help developing countries across the world.

Today’s event,AIDITALY SANITARY PLATFORM: From a humanitarian catalogue to a humanitarian platform through the setting up of a new sanitary supply chain, is an Emilia-Romagna Region event organised by Roncucci&Partners, an international consultancy firm that supported 25 Italian companies during the COVID-19 pandemic within the USAIDINVEST Program. In spring 2020, the Unites States allocated US 50 million to support Italy during the pandemic. US 10 million of this was dedicated to supporting Italian businesses to manufacture healthcare products (such as PPE, face masks, hand sanitiser and equipment for diagnostic and treatment),to help fight the spread of COVID-19.

Representatives from the Italian and UAE governments, healthcare, pharma and technology companies, charities and NGOs,took part in a panel discussion at the Dubai Cares Pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai, looking at how private companies, NGOs and institutions can work together to find innovative solutions for the current sanitary supply chain issues in developing countries.Regini Gupta, US Consul General in Italy for the Emilia-Romagna Region, also addressed the attending guests.

The panel of experts, moderated by Giovanni Roncucci, Chairman of Roncucci&Partners, included Barbara Bedike,Senior Program Officer at Dubai Cares; Konstantinos Moschochoritis, General Director of NGO Intersos; Marco Farina, Co-founder of OMNIDERMAL; Giulia Galletti, Export Manager of BIOSIDEand Valeria Bandini, Head of Europe and Internationalization Area, ART-ER. The speakers were also joined by Giulio Dal Magro, Head of Development Financing, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti.

Speaking from the event, Vincenzo Colla, Regional Minister for Economic Development, Green Economy, Labour and Vocational Training of the Emilia-Romagna Government said, “Italy was the first country in Europe to be heavily impacted by the pandemic. We want to use the experience that we gained during the last two years of the pandemic to help solve issues in the supply and demand of healthcare products in developing countries. The pandemic has accelerated the need for multi-product platforms to help NGOs access health solutions for emergencies in developing counties.

“Thanks to the support of Dubai Cares, we are hoping to launch the platform in the coming months. It was important to present the concept at Expo 2020 Dubai, considering the UAE’s location and its unparalleled connection with the world, it plays a crucial role as a bridge between countries.

“The last two years have taught us that we need global solutions for global healthcare problems. With the current healthcare conditions looking like they will continue for the foreseeable future, we can use Italy’s experience during the pandemic to help with existing global health challenges.”

Giovanni Roncucci, Chairman of Roncucci&Partners said, “One of the outputs of the USAID project is the multi-brand Humanitarian Catalogue, a tool to connect the supply and demand of health products in developing countries. It groups 70 products in 3 area covering prevention, diagnostics and treatment and was a crucial first step in developing the AIDITALY Sanitary Platform.

“The AIDITALY Sanitary Platform is a result of the experience gained during the pandemic, which saw as never before, a very strong collaboration between the private sector and public institutions, which were united to face the humanitarian crisis caused by Covid-19.

“Currently, charities and NGO’s must approach individual companies for support and the AIDITALY Sanitary Platform will offer a virtual solution to this. It will bring together companies, international institutions and NGOs in one place, so they can cooperate and access information easily and efficiently.”

Today’s event at Expo 2020 Dubai follows a panel discussion held yesterday in Downtown Dubai ‘Supporting the Private Sector’s Response to Covid-19 In Italy: Outcomes and Lessons Learned from the USAID Invest Program’,with representatives exploring what has been learned and the results from the partnership with Italy and the US.

The event was opened by Simone Crolla, Managing Director American Chamber of Commerce in Italy and the panel of experts included Cara Nazari, Managing Director American Chamber of Commerce in Dubai; Giovanni Roncucci, Chairman of Roncucci&Partners; Federico Rubini, Project Manager of Roncucci&Partners; Lorenzo Rosettani, CEO of H-COMM; Francesca Moretti, COO of COLORIFICIO MP and Giulio DalMagro, Head of Development Financing Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. Closing remarks at the event were made by Vincenzo Colla, Regional Minister for Economic Development, Green Economy, Labour and Vocational training of the Emilia-Romagna Government, ahead of today’s panel discussion.