ROME — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni spoke Monday at a summit of African leaders with the aim of stemming migration numbers, diversifying energy sources and forging a new non-predatory relationship between Europe and Africa. announced Italy’s large-scale African development plan.
Meloni declared the summit a successful first step, and senior European and UN officials said Italy’s plan, with an initial contribution of 5.5 billion euros, would focus on climate adaptation and clean energy development in Africa. He said it would complement efforts already underway.
But African Union Commission President Moussa Faki Mahamat was more cautious, telling the summit that he wanted African countries to be consulted beforehand and did not want any more empty pledges.
“We need to move from words to action,” Chad’s former prime minister Fakih told the summit. “I hope you understand that I am not satisfied with promises that are often not kept.”
Twenty people, including 20 African leaders, senior EU and UN officials, and representatives from international lending institutions, were in Rome for the summit. The summit is the first major event of the G7 under the Italian Presidency.
Italy, which has been the origin of Europe’s migration debate for decades, promotes development plans as a way to create jobs and opportunities in Africa and stop young people from making dangerous migrations across the Mediterranean. I’ve been doing it. The plan includes pilot projects in areas such as education, health care, water and sanitation, agriculture and energy infrastructure.
Meloni began by outlining projects ranging from Morocco to Mozambique that would enable Africa to become a major exporter of energy to Europe and break away from dependence on Russian energy after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Said to be helpful. Italy, which was North Africa’s colonial power under fascism, stands to benefit from a hydrogen pipeline passing through the peninsula, she said.
He said the plan initially envisages a contribution of 5.5 billion euros in loans, gifts and guarantees. It was not immediately clear whether this amount represented new investment or funds previously earmarked for development.
“We want to unleash Africa’s energy and guarantee young generations the rights that have been denied to them,” Meloni said in his opening remarks at the summit. “Because here in Europe we talk a lot about the rights of migrants, but we rarely talk about guaranteeing the right not to be forced to migrate.”
Meloni, Italy’s first far-right leader since World War II, has made curbing immigration a priority for his government. However, in her first year in power, the number of people arriving on Italian shores increased significantly, last year it was about 160,000.
As the summit began, the International Organization for Migration reported that nearly 100 people had died or gone missing in the Mediterranean so far this year. This is twice as many as the same period last year, the worst death toll since 2016.
The government’s plan, named after Enrico Mattei, founder of state oil and gas company Eni, aims to expand cooperation with Africa beyond energy and represents a new philosophy and approach, Meloni said. he said.
“This is a cooperation of equals, far from any predatory temptations, but also far from a benevolent attitude toward an Africa that can hardly be reconciled with its extraordinary development potential,” Meloni told leaders. Ta.
Asked about the lack of consultation with African leaders at his closing press conference, Meloni said he may have made a “mistake” by being too specific about the pilot project in his introductory speech. I admitted something. But he said the summit would provide African leaders with a preliminary overview of Italy’s philosophy, supported by concrete examples, which would be promoted in a shared partnership.
As the summit began, Italy’s Green Party and opposition members held an opposition meeting in Italy’s lower house of parliament, criticizing the Matei plan as a neo-colonial “empty box” aimed at once again exploiting Africa’s natural resources.
Cristiano Maugeri of Action Aid Italia lamented that the government had excluded any consultation with civil society organizations active in Africa’s development in the planning process, saying it was nevertheless a repackaging of existing projects. Said it was something like.
“What we’re talking about is just a new stamp on something that was already presented in a different context,” he said.
UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed praised Italy’s focus on the key pillars of the energy and food systems, saying these complement the approach already planned by the African Union. But she lamented that the 2030 target of the globally endorsed United Nations Sustainable Development Goals as a whole remains “woefully short”.
“I urge the Italian government to make this deep, effective and equal partnership a reality, and to use its G7 Presidency to follow suit with other countries.”
Alongside the Matei plan, the Meloni government signed controversial agreements with countries to ease Italy’s migration burden. An EU-backed deal with Tunisia aims to curb departures through economic development projects and legal migration opportunities, while a bilateral deal with Albania aims to reduce the number of Italy-bound migrants rescued at sea. There is a call for a center to be established in Albania to process asylum applications.
Albania’s Constitutional Court on Monday allowed the agreement to be put to a vote in parliament.
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Paolo Santalucia also contributed.
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