The African continent will have a
place of honour on the agenda of Italy's duty presidency of the
G7 in 2024, said Premier Giorgia Meloni at the Italy-Africa
summit in the Senate in Rome on Monday.
Italy is making a "precise foreign policy choice, which will
lead to giving Africa a place of honour on the agenda of our G7
presidency," said Meloni, addressing the 25 African leaders and
representatives of the European Union institutions present at
the summit.
Italy, she added, is "committed to demonstrating that we are
aware of how interconnected the destiny of our continents is,
and that it is possible to imagine and write a new chapter in
our relations involving cooperation between equals, that is a
long way removed from any predatory temptation and charitable
approach," she added.
Meloni said Italy's so-called Mattei Plan, the planned new
strategic partnership with African countries to address the root
causes of irregular migration and turn Italy into a sort of hub
for energy supplies from Africa to Europe as the continent tries
to reduce its dependency on Russian oil and gas supplies after
Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, can count on a budget of 5.5
billion euro including "loans, grants and guarantees".
Of this amount, Meloni said "about 3 billion euro (will come)
from the Italian climate fund and 2.5 billion from the
development cooperation fund".
"Pilot projects" contemplated under the plan and pre-anounced by
Meloni in an interview with TG1 on Sunday evening include the
creation of a vocational training centre on renewable energy in
Morocco, education projects in Tunisia and projects giving
greater access to health care in Ivory Coast.
Tunisia and Ivory Coast represented respectively the second and
third most common country of origin of migrants and refugees
arriving in Italy by sea in 2023.
"Sharing is one of the cardinal principles of the Mattei Plan
and the work of this summit will be decisive in enriching the
path," said Meloni, adding that other projects are also foreseen
in Algeria, Mozambique, Egypt, the Republic of Congo, Ethiopia
and Kenya.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © Copyright ANSA
