Italy will soon boast significantly more agencies certified for inter-country adoption compared to other nations, following a meeting between the Cambodian government and the Italian embassy yesterday.

Following a meeting between Vong Soth, the Minister of Social Affairs, and Francesco Saverio Nisio, the Italian ambassador to Cambodia, Italy will be allowed to have eight certified agencies, based on a memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries in 2013; other nations will only be allowed one or two agencies.

“It is almost done [now],” Soth said, referring to the legal adoption framework that has been pending for two years. “It is important that before we agree to send our children to international families, we try to find them homes in Cambodia.”

In March of this year, the Ministry of Social Affairs opened the application process for international adoption agencies in anticipation of finalising a new legal framework for adoption abroad.

This followed a four-year ban on adoption, lifted in 2013, intended to protect Cambodian children from abuse and unlawful trafficking. However, no legal international adoptions have yet been approved.

Once the new law is finalised, he said, the government will assess how many children are in need of new families.

Nisio said he was pleased about the agreement, but added that nothing will be made official, however, until the chief of Adoption Administration for Italy, Dr Silvia Della Monica, visits Cambodia.