Italian PM Giorgia Meloni opened the Italy-Africa Summit on Monday by outlining her plan to invest in the development of dozens of African countries in a long-term effort to curb human trafficking and illegal migration through the Mediterranean.
Under what’s dubbed as the “Mattei plan”—named after the late Enrico Mattei, founder of the state oil company Eni, who advocated for the systemic economic development of Africa—dozens of African countries could see Italian grants and loans to help them advance their infrastructure and strengthen their economies, Il Giornale wrote, as Rome hopes it would contribute to the continent’s stability as a whole.
“The goal we have set ourselves is to demonstrate that we are aware of how much the fate of our two continents, Europe and Africa, is interconnected,” Meloni said in her speech, “and we think it is possible to imagine and write a new page, a collaboration among equal partners, far from the predatory but also charitable approach.”
In his speech, the Commission Chairman of the African Union (AU) and former prime minister of Chad, Moussa Faki, echoed Meloni’s words by saying that Africa and the West needed a “paradigm shift” in their partnership. “Africa does not want to reach out. We are not beggars.”
The summit was attended by representatives of 45 African countries, including 19 heads of state, six prime ministers, and three foreign ministers. The leaders from the UN, the World Bank, and the EU were also present, including Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“I’m grateful to Italy for placing cooperation with Africa at the center of its foreign policy and its G7 Presidency,” von der Leyen said, before connecting the plan to the EU’s similar project that is also meant to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative. “The new Mattei Plan represents an important contribution to this new phase of our partnership and is complementary to our European Global Gateway.”
The Italian government is currently working out the details of the Mattei plan, as Meloni explained, including a new, long-term financing instrument that “can count on an initial endowment of over €5.5 billion between credits, gift transactions, and guarantees.”
The prime minister stressed that boosting African economies’ global competitiveness must be made in view of “guaranteeing the right not to be forced to emigrate, thus not having to sever one’s roots in search of a better life.”
With this specific goal in mind, Meloni explained that the Mattei plan will have a strong educational dimension, offering vocational training along with the funds that help create jobs.
“By fostering employment we will give a decisive blow to human traffickers who are our common enemies,” Meloni said, adding that “together we will defeat them. They invest in desperation, we invest in opportunities.”
