Italy’s third humanitarian flight to support Iraq’s effort in the fight against COVID-19 landed early this morning, welcomed by the Ambassador of Italy, Maurizio Greganti, and the Iraqi Deputy Minister of Health, Dr. Tawfeeq Waleed Tawfeeq. The flight, which took off from the United Nations Humanitarian Response Depot in Brindisi, contained over 6 tons of medical supplies, including fans and personal protective equipment as a gift from Italy.
“This flight is the result of an excellent synergy between Italy, Iraq, the European Union and International Organizations: DPIs are a gift from Italy – with the flight organized by the Farnesina and the Italian Cooperation for Development – the operation falls within the European Civil Protection Mechanism, while storage, logistics and transport were ensured by the WFP thanks to the presence of the Humanitarian Response Depot in Brindisi ”stated Ambassador Greganti. “It is yet again proof of the solid friendship that binds Italy and Iraq, which Italy, the EU and the United Nations have never left alone in the face of the countless challenges of recent years.”
In Iraq, a Priority Country for Italian development cooperation, our commitment to the fight against the pandemic goes on: in the two flights carried out previously, Italy has donated to Iraq about 430,000 units of personal protective equipment and one first batch of over 100,000 vaccine doses as part of the international COVAX program. Furthermore, at the multilateral level, during the Global Health Summit organized under the Italian Presidency of the G20, Italy and six other European states have committed to share over 100 million vaccine doses with some Priority Countries, including Iraq.
