Italian premier Giorgia Meloni present her African strategy in Parliament “The Mattei Plan”

“The goal we have set for ourselves is to show that we are aware of how the destiny of our two continents, Europe and Africa, is interconnected, and we think it is possible to imagine and write a new page, a collaboration as equals far from the predatory but also charitable approach.” Thus, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni opened the Italy-Africa summit. “The Mattei Plan for Africa is a concrete plan of strategic interventions concentrated in the medium and long term. It is not a closed box but an open platform, and sharing is one of the cardinal principles,” she added.

“Africa is by no means a poor continent; it holds 30 percent of the mineral resources, 60 percent of the cultivated land, and 60 percent of its population is under the age of 25,” she then highlighted. “The continent has enormous potential for human capital, but it is also an immense continent, with a thousand peculiarities and a thousand very different needs. Italy, the European Union, and the whole world cannot reason about the future without taking into consideration the future of Africa.” “We want to do our part with an ambitious program of interventions to help the continent grow and prosper, starting with its immense resources. This is the framework of the Italian intervention that we call the Mattei Plan for Africa,” Meloni stressed again, pointing out that it is also necessary to “get out of the logic of microinterventions.”

$5 billion initial endowment for Mattei Plan

“The Mattei Plan can count on an initial endowment of 5.5 billion euros between credits, gift operations, and guarantees.” “The Mattei Plan is not dropped from above, as has often been the case in the past. It is a shared programmatic platform. Sharing is one of the core principles of the Mattei Plan,” the premier added. “We want to do our part with an ambitious program of interventions to help the continent grow and prosper from its immense resources. This is the framework of the Italian intervention that we call the Mattei Plan for Africa,” Meloni explained, adding that “there are concrete projects and initiatives capable of generating a significant impact, and they are projects whose implementation and developments I intend to personally follow.

Stop illegal migrants

“We all want to stop this tragic loss of life along the migration routes. And we all want to give young people better opportunities. It is not only geography that unites us, but also the commitment to bring mutual benefits to all our people.” This is what European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said during the plenary session of the Italy-Africa Summit.

“We must crack down on traffickers who trade on the lives of human beings. Traffickers endanger hundreds of thousands of lives. They herd young people in the backs of trucks across the desert. They abuse young women along the way. And they load them all into rickety boats that are simply not made for the high seas. We all want to stop their callous activity,” Von de Leyen commented. “The best way to do this,” she insisted, is “to join forces and crack down on the criminals. And in parallel, build legal alternatives to the deadly smuggling routes.” “We have to destroy the traffickers’ web of lies,” Von der Leyen explained, recalling that “in recent months” they have “worked closely with Ivory Coast, Gambia, Guinea, Mauritania, and Senegal.” “Our approach is clear. We are ready to offer more opportunities to come to Europe legally so that people can move, learn, and bring their new skills back home. And we cooperate in the repatriation of irregular migrants. Mobility must be handled by the law, not by traffickers. And the better we are at legal migration, the more convincing we will be at preventing irregular migration,” she concluded.

Faki (African Union): ‘On the Mattei Plan, we would have liked to have been consulted

“Madam Prime Minister, on the Mattei Plan you propose, we would have wished to be consulted. Africa is ready to discuss the contours and modalities of implementation. I insist on the need to move from words to deeds; we can no longer be satisfied with promises, often broken.” Thus, African Union Commission Chair Moussa Faki, in his address to the Italy-Africa Summit, addressed Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. “Italy’s stances in favor of a new paradigm of partnership with Africa are highly regarded on the continent,” the former prime minister of Chad said, however.

“Italy, under your leadership, has shown constant interest in an equitable and productive partnership with Africa, and your stances in international forums in favor of a new paradigm of partnership with Africa enjoy excellent consideration on the continent. Thank you also for coming to us to discuss this. And I hope that the Italian presidency of the G7 can amplify this approach to Africa,” Faki further said in his speech at the Senate conference. The chairman of the African Union Commission then emphasized “the principles that must be taken into due consideration to govern this partnership, as well as for the partnership with the European Union,” and then applauded the presence at the Rome summit of the heads of the EU institutions.