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Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni convened the second Italy-Africa summit in Addis Ababa on Thursday, reviewing progress on the Mattei Plan two years after launching the strategy to build partnerships with African nations.
The summit held at the Addis Ababa Convention Centre is coinciding with the African Union summit and preceding the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government, where Meloni will speak on Friday as a guest of honour.
According to Raffaele Marchetti, director of the Study Centre for International and Strategic Affairs at Luiss University in Rome, the Mattei Plan represents Italy’s bid for a more independent international role.
“I think it is all in all the issue on which Italy is most distinguishable,” he said. “There is a long-term strategic interest there.”
Marchetti noted the United States “has little interest in Africa”, while for Italy the continent fits within its wider Mediterranean vision. He added that Africa’s population is expected to reach five billion by the end of the century, with a growing share of the global workforce.
He stressed that while Italy has committed resources, national funding remains limited and must be matched by private investment alongside Italian and European funds.
“What Italy can offer in terms of quality is capacity building – training,” Marchetti said. “If you train people, you create multipliers. Training isn’t excessively costly, so it’s an effective way to contribute to African development.”
European dimension
Marchetti said the plan represents “an important acceleration, an important formalisation of a process that is of longer duration” and noted that “other Europeans are struggling to maintain their positions, think first and foremost of France”.
He described it as “an important window of opportunity to take a bit of European leadership in Africa” for an Italian project that “also aspires to become European, supported by the Commission”.
Questions have been raised about project feasibility. An investigation by IrpiMedia highlighted concerns about infrastructure transparency, project selection processes and access to funding.
The summit marks the first time the biennial Italy-Africa meeting has been held on the African continent since the Mattei Plan was launched in Rome in January 2024.
Projects under way in 2025 reached a value of between €1.3 billion and €1.4 billion, according to Italian government sources.
Resources were mobilised through the Africa Fund, the Italian Climate Fund, and collaboration with multilateral institutions including the World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the African Development Bank.
The initiative has expanded from nine countries initially involved to 14 focus countries, with Italy planning further expansion of cooperation.
The plan focuses on five key sectors: energy, infrastructure, water and agriculture, education, and healthcare.
Key developments include water projects in regions facing extreme climate conditions and the signing of the Framework Convention for International Health Cooperation.
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