Italy: Meloni pitches migration plan at Africa summit
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pitched a series of pilot projects to African leaders as part of a development plan to boost economies of African countries and curb the flow of migration to Italian shores.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni kicked off a summit of African leaders in Rome on Monday, outlining a series of pilot projects as part of a development plan to forge a new relationship between Italy and Africa.
The plan, dubbed the Mattei Plan, is named after Italian administrator Enrico Matteo, who advocated for the growth of North African economies in the 1950s. It is aimed at stimulating investment on the continent as a way to stem migration across the Mediterranean Sea.
Meloni came into power as head of a right-wing government in 2022 and promised toreduce migration during her electoral campaign.
However, her first year in power saw a big jump in the number of people who arrived on Italy’s shores, with some 157,600 having arrived last year, the largest number since 2016.
Meloni pitches plan to rejig Italy-Africa relations
Meloni outlined a series of pilot projects in individual countries that she said would enable Africa to become a major exporter of energy to Europe.
That would help Europe wean off its dependence on Russian energy following Moscow's invasionof Ukraine.
"We want to free up African energy to guarantee younger generations a right which to date has been denied," Meloni told the summit in an opening address.
"Here in Europe we talk a lot about the right to emigrate, but we rarely talk about guaranteeing the right to not be forced to emigrate," she said.
She is pledging an initial €5.5 billion ($5.95 billion), including state guarantees to see through the plans.
"It's a cooperation of equals, far from any predatory temptation but also far from the charitable posture with Africa that rarely is reconciled with its extraordinary potential for development," Meloni told the leaders.
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