 It is active in the field of development co-operation in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Eastern Europe.It runs agricultural development projects in developing countries, mainly on behalf of the "Direzione generale per la cooperazione allo sviluppo" of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.The institute was very active in international co-operation after the enactment of Law n. 49 (1987) framing "Italian Development Co-operation", and since then it has mainly been dealing with agricultural and rural development topics, conservation and promotion of agricultural biodiversity and the development of sustainable agricultural technologies.