Africa, OK to 11 Italy-EU agreements for 1.2 billion. Meloni: now project on debt conversion
At the summit between Piano Mattei and Global Gateway signed the agreements anticipated by Il Sole 24 Ore. Premier announces plan to convert 235 million debt over 10 years
3' min read
3' min read
A EUR 1.2 billion package of 11 agreements, already anticipated by the Sole 24 Ore, plus an unprecedented debt conversion initiative for African economies.
These are the agreements announced by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the summit on 20 June at Villa Doria Phampily with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and representatives of Angola, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, the African Union, as well as financial partners such as the World Bank, the African Development Bank (Afdb), the Africa Finance Corporation and the International Monetary Fund.
The highlight of the summit, anticipated by a closed-door event in March, is the reinforcement of the understanding between the so-called Mattei Plan for Africa and the EU Global Gateway: the infrastructure strategy that allocates 150 of the 300 billion euro to investments on the continent.
The underlying objectives, said Meloni, are that of a "strategy among equals" and the "internationalisation" of the Mattei Plan in its "natural" projection of the Global Gateway. Meloni went on to cite three key objectives among the agreements signed (Lobito Corridor, agricultural supply chain) and a third initiative in the works: a project to convert debt into development projects with the goal of "reducing by 50%" that of low- and middle-income nations and converting a share of 235 million within a decade.
The 11 chords of the day
.The most massive announcement came with Italy's intervention on the so-called Lobito corridor, the more than 1,300-kilometre rail link that will connect mineral-rich countries such as Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Angolan port of the same name. Rome had already anticipated at the G7 summit in 2024 an intervention of $320 million on a project that has already garnered a commitment in the region of $4 billion from the US, which is mainly interested in the supply of crucial commodities for the technology industry and in countering Chinese influence. The government envisages the start of an initial $270 million (€250 million) block in the form of a loan from the Cassa Depositi e Prestiti guaranteed by Sace to the multilateral Africa finance corporation.
