Africa: Italy-Africa Summit Assesses New Partnership

Luanda — With the aim of launching the challenge of promoting a new way of ensuring that Africa ceases to be a space of exploitation, insecurity and mass migration, the Italy-Africa Summit has been taking place since Sunday in Rome, Italy.

The event is being attended by several heads of State and Government from the African continent.

According to a press release to which ANGOP had access, Angola is taking part in the event with a delegation led by the Minister of State for Economic Coordination, José de Lima Massano, representing the Head of State, João Lourenço.

The note explains that among other issues, the summit which is to be closed on Monday will debate the Plano Mattei, evaluated annually at 2.8 million euros with the aim of eliminating the causes that motivate migrants to leave their countries to live in Europe.

The fund, which will last for four years, is updated and financed by several European countries. It will start this year and will serve to combat the worrying spread of Islamic radicalism, presented by Italian Prime Minister Giogia Meloni at her Cabinet’s press conference, just after taking over such post in October 2022.

The Mattei Plan’s main areas of action are development cooperation, export and investment promotion, education and vocational training, research and innovation, health, agriculture and food security, supply and sustainable exploitation of natural resources, environmental protection and the fight against climate change.

Italy is also committed to modernising and strengthening infrastructures, including digital ones, as well as improving and developing the energy partnership, in the field of renewable sources, and supporting entrepreneurship, particularly among young people and women.

The document states that, with this event, Italy wants the economic opportunities of the “cradle continent” to serve the African people.

Meanwhile, fifty-seven delegations, including heads of state and government or their representatives, European Union leaders, representatives of the World Bank (WB) and other United Nations (UN) development agencies, among others, are taking part in the event, whose main focus is the “Mattei Plan”, in honour of the founder of the Italian oil company ENI, Enrico Mattei.

FMA/VIC/MRA/jmc