Italy to set up 'control room' for Mattei Plan

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 2 - Te Italian government is to set up a special 'control room' or steering committee for its much anticipated Mattei Plan to curb migration from Africa and beat smuggling gangs, according to a draft of the four-year plan out Thursday.
    The plan, name after late Eni founder Enrico Mattei, envisages strategic development partnerships with countries of origin and transit of migrants.
    "To build a new partnership between Italy and the states of the African continent", is the objective put in black and white in the circulating draft of the Plan, a seven-article decree-law that establishes, among other things, a special steering committee, chaired by the Prime Minister and composed of the Minister of Foreign Affairs (vice-president), the other ministers, the president of the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, government bank Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and foreign investment agency Sace.
    The plan, the draft says, lasts four years and can be updated even before its expiry date.
    There is an "extraordinary need and urgency to strengthen cooperation initiatives between Italy and states on the African continent, in order to promote economic and social development and prevent the root causes of irregular migration," says the draft plan.
    It emphasises the "need to include the development of collaboration between Italy and the states of the African continent in the broader Italian strategy of safeguarding and promoting national security in all its dimensions, including economic, energy, climate, food, and the fight against irregular migration flows." (ANSA).