ROME, Dec. 12 -- Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Saturday presided over the signing of a cooperation agreement to promote sustainable farming in Africa.

The agreement between Italian farmers' association Coldiretti, Italy's oil and gas giant Eni, and Bonifiche Ferraresi SpA, an Italian company that specializes in innovative farming technology, was inked at the close of the two-day International Forum on Agriculture and Food held in northern Italian town of Cernobbio.

The objective of the Africa Project "is to export a development model that bets on...the potential of family farms, thereby supporting small producers in the South of the world..." Coldiretti President Ettore Prandini said in a statement.

The so-called Africa Project will roll out an initial pilot project in Ghana, according to Coldiretti.

Food and agriculture are the nexus of "food and nutritional security, accessibility, stability... safeguarding the environment and biodiversity, sustainable development and social equity," the Italian prime minister said in remarks posted on the government's website.

The Africa Project must promote "a marriage between economy and ecology, which must go hand in hand," Conte said. "And they must do so in Africa, where a great portion of the global population is concentrated..."

Conte also announced that he will take part in the World Food Day events at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) next Wednesday in Rome.

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