AICS HANOI (Headquarters responsible for the ASEAN region).
The AICS Hanoi Headquarters is one of the twenty foreign offices of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo), which was established under the Cooperation Reform Law (L. n. 125/2014).
AICS Hanoi collaborates with the Embassy of Italy in Jakarta to implement development cooperation projects funded by Italy under the Italy-ASEAN Development Partnership (AIDP).
The Agency’s task is to carry out the technical-operational activities related to the preliminary investigation, formulation, financing, management and control phases of international cooperation initiatives.
The AICS office in Hanoi has been operational since April 2022 and by mandate of the Joint Committee resolution (No. 114/21) has jurisdiction “over all countries in the Far East area not already assigned to the competence of other Offices, as well as regional programs insisting on at least one of these countries.”
Through the implementation of initiatives in accordance with the Italy system of cooperation, AICS Hanoi contributes to the pursuit of the 5Ps (People, Planet, Peace, Prosperity, Partnership) of the Agenda for Sustainable Development throughout the area.
The Italy – ASEAN Partnership
During the 53rd ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on September 9, 2020, Italy was awarded the status of Development Partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Countries-ASEAN. This recognition takes the form of a partnership aimed at strengthening cooperation between Italy and ASEAN, and coordinating joint projects to enhance the potential of the two regions.
In June 2022, the parties adopted the Practical Cooperation Areas (PCA) 2022-2026, which define the areas of cooperation of the ASEAN-Italy Development Partnership (AIDP).
The ASEAN Community Vision 2025, a strategic document aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and the ASEAN Blueprints are the programmatic tools covering the economic, sociocultural, policy and security aspects in the region. In general, AICS Hanoi’s work follows the Association’s programmatic and strategic framework.
In particular, AICS supports ASEAN’s Net Zero agenda in developing a low-emission and inclusive economy for the benefit of all people in the area. Thematically, to date, projects funded by the Agency have focused on the promotion of public health, sustainable and low-emission development of the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors.
In line with the founding principles of the Italian law on development cooperation, AICS’ activities are focused in the most deprived areas of the region. To this end, AICS is gradually directing its intervention toward “narrowing the development gap” in PCAs, prioritizing new projects in support of the ASEAN Integration Initiative (IAI). This mechanism allows targeted projects to be implemented in favor of countries and areas with the lowest levels of development, thus promoting regional integration.
To effectively support the implementation of its own components of the Partnership, as of May 2024, AICS Hanoi has set up a secondary accreditation office in Jakarta, where the ASEAN Secretariat (ASEC) is also located. The office, in close coordination with the Embassy of Italy in Jakarta, promotes dialogue between Italy and ASEC, and its technical divisions; in addition, AICS Hanoi, by facilitating collaboration between implementing entities and beneficiary institutions of AIDP projects, acts as a driving force for innovative cooperation in the Region especially with regard to environmental issues.
In November 2024, AICS Hanoi took part for the first time in the fourth Steering Committee meeting at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia, jointly with the Embassy of Italy there, where the commitments of the Partnership between the two institutions were renewed, with Italy active in broader cooperation for political and security, economic, socio-cultural, promoting connectivity and reducing the development gap.