CIHEAM Bari is the Italian headquarter of CIHEAM (Centre International de Hautes Etudes Agronomiques Méditerranéennes), an intergovernmental organization founded in 1962 under the aegis of the OECD and the Council of Europe, which operates through its 4 Institutes based in Bari (Italy), Chania (Greece), Montpellier (France) and Zaragoza (Spain), while the General Secretariat is based in Paris.
CIHEAM Bari enjoys the privileges of extra-territoriality granted to international organizations by the Republic of Italy through the Establishment agreement signed to the Italian Government in 1962, ratified in Italy with law N. 932 of 13 July 1965 and with the supplementary protocol to the Agreement ratified with law N. 159 of 26 May 2000.
The building of CIHEAM Bari campus started in 1970 near Valenzano (Bari). The current headquarters were inaugurated on 27 October 1972. On 27 May 2022, on the occasion of the celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the foundation of CIHEAM, the CIHEAM Bari Campus was dedicated to Cosimo Lacirignola, who held both the role of Secretary General of CIHEAM and the Director of the Bari Institute.
Maurizio Raeli
Since 2017, Maurizio Raeli has been the Director of CIHEAM Bari (Centre International de Hautes Études Agronomiques Méditerranéennes), the Italian institute of the advanced intergovernmental post-graduate training organization for applied scientific research and international cooperation. A jurist by training, Dr Raeli has worked continuously since 1978 in some of the most prestigious institutions and has held numerous offices: Coordinator of SINAB (Sistema Informativo Nazionale dell’Agricoltura Biologica); Board Member of ISA (Istituto Sviluppo Agroalimentare S.p.a.), a financial holding company of the Italian Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies (MIPAF), now incorporated into ISMEA; Member of the Academic Board for the PhD course in Environment, Resources, and Sustainable Development of the University Parthenope of Naples; Executive of the Apulia Regional Irrigation and Land Reclamation Union (Unione Regionale Bonifiche delle Irrigazioni e dei Miglioramenti Fondiari per la Puglia).
From 1988 to 2001 he was the Principal Administrator of CIHEAM Bari, and served as Deputy Director of the Italian institute of the CIHEAM from 2001 to 2016. He has also been the coordinator of many international master’s courses implemented in collaboration with academic and scientific institutions across the Mediteranean Region, and of international cooperation projects funded by the European Union, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Agricultural, Food and Forestry Policies, and Regione Puglia.
Editor-in-chief of the quarterly scientific journal NEW MEDIT (Mediterranean Journal of Economics, Agriculture and Environment), Dr Raeli is the author and co-author of over 50 articles and scientific publications related to international cooperation, protection of the environment and natural resources, and Mediterranean organic agriculture.
He is an Academic Correspondent of the Accademia dei Georgofili.
He was made a Commander of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic on 27th December 2020, on the recommandation of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Maurizio Raeli was born on 30th September 1955. He is married and has three children.
CIHEAM Bari’s mission targets post-graduate higher education, applied research and development cooperation.
CIHEAM Bari network involves hundreds of institutions located in several Mediterranean and African countries. In Italy, CIHEAM Bari avails of a network of around 200 bodies among research, private sector, entrepreneurship, producers’ organizations, institutions. Thanks to this network, CIHEAM Bari ensures a timely mobilization of hundreds of experts able to operate abroad and in Italy.
CIHEAM Bari’s facilities include an International Campus located in Valenzano (Bari, Italy) and a seat in Tricase (Lecce, Italy) where capacity building actions are continuously carried out with both in-person and distance learning methodologies.
CIHEAM Bari Campus includes 4 laboratories, experimental fields, greenhouses, a documentation center and a business-start up incubator.
We are currently involved in 70 transnational projects,
mobilizing more than 20 countries, comprising more than 300
different organizations (institutions, academia, civil society,
research centers and enterprises). CIHEAM Bari fosters the
spirit of international cooperation in promoting sustainable
agriculture. Our modus operandi includes a participatory
bottom-up-bottom methodology, which is inclusive and
integrated and aims at launching public-private partnerships.
As for development cooperation, CIHEAM Bari initiatives,
funded by several Italian and international donors, address the
nexus among agriculture, environment and health focusing on
the following sectors:
