The third meeting of the Mattei Plan steering committee was held at Palazzo Chigi today, chaired by the Vice-President of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Antonio Tajani.
The meeting was attended by all Ministries involved, the Conference of Regions and Autonomous Provinces, the Bank of Italy and the National Association of Italian Municipalities (‘ANCI’) as well as by a wide range of representatives from Italy’s economic system, State bodies and companies, publicly-owned enterprises, the world of academia and research, the third sector and those involved in cooperation, employers’ associations and trade organisations.
The President of the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee of the Senate and the President of the Foreign and Community Affairs Committee of the Chamber of Deputies were also invited to the steering committee meeting for the first time.
During the meeting, the annual progress report for the Mattei Plan for Africa was presented, to then be submitted to Parliament. Said report provides details of the main initiatives underway in the nine nations where the Plan’s pilot projects have been launched. The Plan was formally adopted by Decree of the President of the Council of Ministers (DPCM) on 7 October following the opinion expressed by the parliamentary committees.
The official visits made over the last months by the Government’s task force for implementation of the Mattei Plan, also in collaboration with Italy’s cooperation system in Africa, were discussed, together with the development of financial instruments to support the projects included in the Plan.
The meeting also highlighted the strong synergy between the Mattei Plan, the European Union’s Global Gateway and the G7 Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII), in particular through Italy’s participation in the Lobito Corridor regional infrastructure project in southern Africa, as announced by President of the Council of Ministers Giorgia Meloni during the G7 Apulia Summit.
During the steering committee meeting, it emerged that there is a common will to consider the Mattei Plan a significant national initiative, serving Italy’s national interest in creating a new development and partnership model with Africa.