On October 21-24, Deputy Administrator Isobel Coleman traveled to Italy to engage with partner countries on critical development priorities. While in Rome, she led a roundtable discussion, hosted by the U.S. Mission to the UN Rome-based agencies, with implementing partners and other donor countries about food delivery to the people of Sudan. The event highlighted humanitarian access challenges and other persistent bureaucratic impediments hindering the delivery of life-saving assistance. Participants discussed potential areas of opportunity to increase food availability and resilience in Sudan, and renewed their commitment to explore ways to alleviate the dire humanitarian needs in the country.
The Deputy Administrator also convened an event on malnutrition, during which she followed up on the launch of USAID's position paper on Cost Effectiveness , by reiterating the focus on infusing rigorous evidence more broadly and deeply across all USAID programming to maximize impact per dollar. This kind of evidence-driven collaboration is an important step toward determining and implementing the most cost effective malnutrition programming to create the greatest impact possible. The Deputy Administrator thanked the French Special Envoy for Nutrition for France's efforts to further this agenda leading up to the Nutrition 4 Growth Summit in March 2025.
The Deputy Administrator then traveled to Pescara, Italy, to lead the U.S. delegation to the G7 Development Ministerial, hosted by the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani. The U.S. joined its G7 partners in formally adopting the Development Ministerial Communique at the start of the meeting. During the session focused on the Apulia Food Systems Initiative, Deputy Administrator Coleman commended the Government of Italy for putting food security, nutrition and sustainable food systems at the top of the G7 development agenda and noted the U.S. government's agreement with Italy's choice to focus the G7's food security efforts on Africa, which faces the highest rates of food insecurity in the world.
In a session on infrastructure, Deputy Administrator Coleman commended the Government of Italy's focus on advancing the G7 Partnership for Infrastructure and Investment (PGI), an initiative spearheaded by President Biden that ensures our investments follow high standards to ensure sustainability, benefiting the countries and communities they impact.
In a session on global health, the Deputy Administrator reiterated the United States' commitment to supporting African countries to strengthen their health systems, including improving access to vaccines and essential health services. She underscored the importance of Gavi's launch of the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA) and noted USAID will collaborate with Gavi, the African Union, and Africa CDC to advance this localization effort.
During a special humanitarian session focused on the ongoing humanitarian crisis in the Middle East, Deputy Administrator Coleman condemned the terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, and expressed the U.S.'s strong desire to see hostages released. She expressed alarm regarding the evolving security situation in northern Gaza, noted the devastating humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the significant decline in assistance reaching people in need over the past several months. The Deputy Administrator called for food and shelter supplies to be surged to civilians in Gaza immediately, especially in advance of winter, including through approval of alternate routes and staging areas to safely deliver lifesaving assistance. The Deputy Administrator also called for parties to de-escalate in Lebanon and urged maximum efforts to limit damage to civilian infrastructure. She outlined USAID's humanitarian response in Lebanon which has allowed partners to quickly pivot to emerging needs, and highlighted Secretary Antony Blinken's announcement on October 4 of $157 million includes an additional $75 million in USAID humanitarian funds that will go to UN and NGO partners already operational in Lebanon.
Additionally, on the sidelines of the G7 meetings, Deputy Administrator Coleman met with several of USAID's bilateral development partners, including France's recently appointed Minister of State for Francophonie and International Partnerships Thani Mohamed-Soilihi, Director General of the United Kingdom's Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) Melinda Bohannon, and the European Union's Commissioner for International Partnerships Jutta Urpilainen. Deputy Administrator Coleman also met with Japan's State Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoshifumi Tsuge to discuss USAID's expanding development collaboration with Japan in humanitarian assistance, global health, and other shared priorities.
The Deputy Administrator also spoke with Deputy Minister of South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation Alvin Botes to discuss the country's upcoming G20 presidency. In her discussion with Germany's Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development Svenja Schulze, Deputy Administrator Coleman emphasized our joint commitment to addressing global crises, including maintaining support for the people of Ukraine.
