Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Africanews
Published on 2024-01-30 10:33:08
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni presented Italy’s significant development plan for Africa at a summit of African leaders, with the goal of reducing migration, expanding energy sources, and building a new, mutually beneficial relationship between Europe and Africa.
The plan, named after Enrico Mattei, founder of Eni, the state-controlled oil and gas company, aims to broaden collaboration with Africa beyond energy and represents a new philosophy and approach, stated Meloni.
The summit, attended by two dozen African leaders, top EU and U.N. officials, and representatives from international lending institutions, marked the first major event of Italy’s Group of Seven presidency.
Meloni emphasized the importance of sharing not only the strategy but also the final definition of the project, asserting that the summit provided African leaders with a preliminary outline of Italy’s philosophy supported by concrete examples.
The government’s plan includes pilot projects in education, health care, water, sanitation, agriculture, and energy infrastructure.
While European and United Nations officials praised the Italian plan and its initial endowment of 5.5 billion euros, the African Union Commission expressed caution, stating that African countries would have preferred prior consultation and did not want more empty pledges.
Meloni admitted that she may have been too specific in describing pilot projects in her introductory speech and vowed to work towards a shared partnership and the final definition of the project.
Italy, long at the forefront of Europe’s migration debate, sees its development plan as a means to create opportunities and discourage dangerous migration across the Mediterranean.
The plan aims to create jobs and opportunity in Africa, and Meloni, who has made curbing migration a priority, aims to use the plan to address the issue. However, despite these efforts, Italy saw a significant increase in the number of arrivals on its shores last year.
As the summit took place, the International Organization for Migration reported that nearly 100 people had died or gone missing in the Mediterranean so far this year, indicating the continued dangers of migration.
The Italian government’s development plan, with its focus on collaboration, non-predatory relationships, and concrete projects, represents a step towards addressing the complex issues of migration and development in Africa.
