7 October 2021
On 5 October 2021, the GICHD signed a technical cooperation agreement with the Italian Centre of Excellence (CoE) C-IED at the Istituto Storico e di Cultura dell’Arma del Genio in Rome. The agreement was signed by Ambassador Stefano Toscano, Director of the GICHD, and Brigadier General Gianpaolo Mirra, the Italian Engineers Commander.
Both sides expressed great satisfaction at the signature of the agreement, which offers a platform for cooperation in areas such as technological research and development, knowledge and expertise sharing, as well as training programmes directed at country beneficiaries that are a common priority for both institutions.
This agreement is also another tangible sign of the fruitful cooperation between the GICHD and the Italian Government, which stretches back to the Centre’s birth in 1998. In addition to Italy’s active participation in the GICHD Council of Foundation and to its consistent and growing financial contribution, this agreement opens the way for a more technical and operational dimension of cooperation that the Centre is convinced will bear great fruit in the interest of steady progress in the mine action sector.
The Italian CoE is indeed a lead actor in explosive ordnance disposal, both nationally and abroad, and has been increasingly called on to put its personnel, equipment and expertise at the service of humanitarian demining programmes, most recently in Colombia and Ecuador.