Premier Giorgia Meloni said that her government intends to present a plan for Africa named after Eni founder Enrico Mattei in the autumn after arriving in Addis Ababa for a two-day visit to Ethiopia.
“We are working on a series of initiatives regarding Africa,” she said as she arrived at her hotel.
“The next Italy-Africa intergovernmental summit, which takes place every two years, will be in the autumn and it could be the occasion to present our Mattei plan.
“In the meantime we are working in cooperation with the African countries because you cannot think you know the best solutions without dialogue with those who are directly concerned”.
Meloni has been calling on Europe to boost aid and develop stronger cooperation with Africa as part of a strategy to reduce the number of migrants seeking to cross the Mediterranean.
The agenda in Addis Ababa includes meetings with Ethiopian Premier Abiy Ahmed, who was in Rome in February, and African Union Commission (AUC) Chairperson Moussa Faki Mahamat.
Italy considers the “stability and integrity” of Ethiopia to be a priority for national interest due to its position on the migratory route from the Horn of Africa to North Africa and Europe.
The country hosts 823,000 refugees and 4.2 million internally displaced people. The humanitarian crisis and conflict in neighbouring Somalia are reportedly to be the subject of a bilateral meeting with Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and of a separate meeting with Ethiopian and Somali representatives on Saturday.
Before leaving, Meloni will also visit the Galileo Galilei comprehensive school in the Ethiopian capital, the largest Italian school outside the country with approximately 900 pupils.
