The steering committee of the programme to reduce poverty and malnutrition in the wilayas north of the country, funded by the Italian Cooperation, met Thursday in Nouakchott, to assess the first phase of the implementation of this programme and preparing the next stages of the project. The meeting was chaired by Colonel Abderrahmane Ould Boubacar, Commissioner for Social Welfare and Food Safety, in the presence of walis of Adrar and Inchiri and the director of the Italian cooperation in Mauritania. According to sources the Commissioner in charge of Welfare and Food Safety, 25 development projects for a total of 150 million ouguiyas, were executed during the first phase of the programme. The same sources predict that the second phase of the project, whose implementation is ensured by the Commissioner for Social Welfare, will finance 33 projects amounting to 170 million ouguiyas, on the basis, as is the case during the first phase, a participatory approach involving local people in selecting beneficiaries. It is noteworthy that the programme, which began last year, takes place in the wilayas of Inchiri, Adrar, Tiris Zemmour and Dakhlet Nouadhibou and it extends over three years, with a budget of 4 million.