CODEWAY EXPO 2026: The Private Sector as a Partner for Sustainable Development

The 7th edition of CODEWAY EXPO has come to a close. The event brought together institutions, the private sector, universities, and civil society organizations to foster dialogue on key issues related to international development cooperation.

20/05/2026

The 7th edition of CODEWAY EXPO has come to a close. The event brought together institutions, the private sector, universities, and civil society organizations to foster dialogue on key issues related to international development cooperation.

The plenary sessions highlighted several transformations that are reshaping the sector, including the growing role of the private sector and increased attention to regular migration pathways through technical training programmes and labour mobility corridors.

For Link 2007, these developments confirm the importance of promoting a cooperation model based on balanced partnerships and multi-stakeholder approaches.

The involvement of the private sector is a fundamental component of development cooperation. However, the effectiveness of interventions depends on the ability to harness the complementary contributions of institutions, civil society, universities, and businesses in designing shared and sustainable strategies. From this perspective, the private sector is called upon to move from being merely a beneficiary of Italian development cooperation to becoming an active partner in designing and implementing sustainable development pathways.

Alongside the event, we collected a number of testimonies to further explore the value of the Italian multi-stakeholder cooperation model. We interviewed Valeria Emmi, Head of Strategy at CESVI, one of our member organizations, and Vincenzo Abrami, a representative from Regione Lombardia, who highlighted how collaboration between local authorities and civil society organizations strengthens the impact of development cooperation policies and enhances the capacity to respond to humanitarian emergencies.