The today’s Italy–Africa Summit represents for Italy an opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to African growth and further strengthen its partnership with the African continent. Only last year, the Mattei Plan implemented projects in key sectors, including energy, water, agriculture, and infrastructure, worth about €1.4 billion. In geopolitical terms, the Mattei Plan helps the EU outline a concrete and ambitious offer to the region, which is unlikely to match the scale of Russian and Chinese engagement. Italy will also use the meeting, which will take place in Africa for the first time, as an opportunity to illustrate the future direction of the Mattei Plan. In this sense, Meloni will likely project the Mattei Plan first and foremost as a national strategy.

Source: The North Africa Journal February 13, 2026 16:17 UTC