Italy has concluded its six-month presidency of the Joint Peace Fund - an organisation set up by international donors to support peace and reconciliation in Myanmar - the foreign ministry said on Monday.
"Six months on, I think that Italy has given a clear direction to the Joint Peace Fund, outlining a clear and effective path for every future initiative", said Italy's outgoing ambassador to Myanmar, Pier Giorgio Aliberti.
During its presidency of the JPF, Italy has focused on rationalising available resources, expanding the portfolio of funded initiatives (a total of 22 at a cost of 11 million dollars) and strengthening relations with all key interlocutors in the process, starting with government institutions and ethnic groups, the foreign ministry stated.
Italy has increased the visibility of the JPF's activities and strengthened its role as an authoritative and even-handed interlocutor in the complex process of national reconciliation underway in Myanmar, the ministry said.
Donors to the JPF include the United States, Japan and the European Union.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, was long considered a pariah state while under the rule of an oppressive military junta from 1962 to 2011, which continues to exercise a grip on the country.
A gradual liberalisation began in 2010, leading to free elections in 2015 and the installation of a government led by veteran opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi the following year.
