(4 Minutes Read)
African leaders were vocal about the plan and even said that they should have been consulted before the preparation of the plan. African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat told the summit that African countries would have liked to have been consulted before Italy rolled out its plan and added that it was time to move from words to deeds, a point that was highlighted by the former prime minister of Chad Faki.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni opened a summit of African leaders on Monday (29th January), which will be discussing Italy’s big development plan for the continent to stem the flow of migration, diversify sources of energy, and forge a new relationship between Europe and Africa.
African leaders were vocal about the plan and even said that they should have been consulted before the preparation of the plan. African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat told the summit that African countries would have liked to have been consulted before Italy rolled out its plan and added that it was time to move from words to deeds, a point that was highlighted by the former prime minister of Chad Faki.
Several African leaders, top European Union and United Nations officials, and representatives from international lending institutions were in Rome for the summit. The summit is billed as the first major event of Italy’s Group of Seven presidency.
Italy has been promoting its development plan as a way to create security and economic conditions that will create jobs in Africa and discourage its young people from making dangerous migrations across the Mediterranean Sea. It is also one of the worst-hit countries on account of incessant migration because of its proximity to Africa.
Notwithstanding the criticism on how the Africa plan evolved, Meloni outlined a series of pilot projects in individual countries that she said would enable Africa to become a major exporter of energy to Europe, to help wean it off its dependence on Russian energy following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.Meloni, Italy’s first hard-right leader since the end of World War II, has made curbing migration a priority of her government. But her first year in power saw a big jump in the number of people who arrived on Italy’s shores, with some 160,000 last year.
The government’s plan, named after Enrico Mattei, founder of state-controlled oil and gas giant Eni, seeks to expand cooperation with Africa beyond energy but in a non-predatory way. The plan involves pilot projects in areas such as education, health care, water, sanitation, agriculture, and infrastructure.
Read Also:
https://trendsnafrica.com/egypt-announces-roro-services-to-italy-within-the-first-half-of-2024/
The summit includes presentations by Italian ministers detailing various aspects of the plan. A gala dinner hosted by Italian President Sergio Mattarella was held on Sunday night. As the summit got underway, Italian green and opposition lawmakers planned a counter-conference at Italy’s lower chamber of parliament to criticize the Mattei Plan as a neocolonial “empty box” that seeks to again exploit Africa’s natural resources.
