AICS - the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development - is one of key innovations established by the Italian law on international cooperation (Law No. 125/2014). The Agency began operating in January 2016, with the aim of aligning Italy with its principal European and global partners in the endeavor of development. Its basic model reflects that used in the main European countries, and it must comply with the demand for more professional and innovative forms of cooperation, involving the methodological flexibility necessary in a continuously evolving scenario.

The Agency headquarters are in Rome. AICS runs another base in Florence and 20 field offices worldwide for assessing local needs, implementing development initiatives, monitoring results and building partnerships on the ground. According to the law, the Agency’s mission is to "perform technical and operational activities associated with the examination, development, financing, management and control of the cooperation initiatives".

Recently, also because of  several humanitarian crises, Italian cooperation has acquired an increasing role in Italian foreign policy choices, in coherence with interventions aimed to maintain peace and to manage migration flows.