Africa: a promising new development area for Italy
Italy recently presented its ambitious development plan for Africa at a summit of the continent’s leaders. The objective of this program is to reduce the number of migrants, diversify energy sources and create a new and non-predatory relationship between Europe and Africa.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni called the summit a successful first step. European and United Nations officials welcomed the Italian plan, with initial funding of 5.5 billion euros (or $5.95 billion), which will complement other initiatives already underway focused on adaptation to climate change and the development of clean energy in Africa.
However, the African Union Commission was more cautious, declaring at the summit that African countries would have liked to be consulted upstream and did not want further empty promises.
The government plan, named after Enrico Mattei, the founder of Italian oil and gas company Eni, aims to expand cooperation with Africa beyond energy. According to Meloni, this is a new philosophy and a new method.
Asked at the closing press conference about the lack of consultation with African leaders, Meloni admitted that she may have “made a mistake” by being too specific in describing the pilot projects during her speech. introduction.
However, she asserted that the summit offered African leaders a preliminary overview of the Italian philosophy supported by concrete examples, which will be developed within the framework of a shared partnership.
“The summit is fundamental to share not only the strategy, but also, in short, the final definition of the project,” she said.
Around twenty African leaders, officials from the EU and the United Nations, as well as representatives of international financial institutions were present in Rome for this summit, the first major event of the Italian presidency of the Group of Seven (G7).
Italy, which has for decades been at the center of the migration debate in Europe, is proposing this development plan as a way to create jobs and opportunities in Africa and to dissuade young Africans from embarking on dangerous migrations to across the Mediterranean Sea.
The plan includes pilot projects in education, healthcare, water, sanitation, agriculture and energy infrastructure.
Giorgia Meloni, Italy’s far-right prime minister since the end of World War II, has made reducing migration a priority of her government.
Yet his first year in office has been marked by a sharp increase in the number of people arriving on Italian shores, with around 160,000 last year.
As the summit was taking place, the International Organization for Migration reported that nearly 100 people had died or gone missing in the Mediterranean since the start of the year, twice as many as the same period last year, which had been the deadliest since 2016.