Meloni launches Europe's new vision for Africa, challenging Beijing's dominance in continent

Rome: Italy formally launched a new chapter of its Mattei Plan for Africa — no longer just a national initiative but now aligned with the European Union's Global Gateway strategy and projected onto a truly global scale.

Co-hosted by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at Villa Doria Pamphili in Rome, the summit marked the Plan's internationalization: a pivot toward multilateral cooperation, new partnerships, and a more strategic presence in the global development landscape.

Meloni, speaking before African and European leaders, framed the event as a milestone in what she called a "pact among free nations that believe in dignity". She stressed that the Mattei Plan is not a top-down aid programme but a platform for "cooperation among equals". This ethos — mutual respect and partnership — recalls the legacy of Enrico Mattei, the visionary postwar energy leader for whom the Plan is named. But what's unfolding now is far more ambitious than its symbolic roots. As Meloni stated bluntly, "Africa is the continent where our future is being shaped," and the goal is to embed Italy's vision within broader international structures.

Ursula von der Leyen echoed that sentiment, calling the Global Gateway and the Mattei Plan "collective efforts designed to tackle common challenges and seize shared opportunities". Together, Rome and Brussels are not just aligning agendas but offering an alternative model for engagement in Africa — one focused on transparency, sustainability, and co-development.

The summit featured not only political rhetoric but also tangible commitments. Italy and the EU pledged to convert €235 millions of African debt into locally targetted development projects, alongside broader restructuring packages totaling €1.2 billion. These measures are designed to boost African resilience without increasing dependency. At the same time, the Italian government announced a major investment in the Lobito Corridor — a trans-African infrastructure project linking Angola and Zambia — via a $270 million loan and a $50 million equity stake. The project is supported by Italy's Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, SACE, and the Africa Finance Corporation, in coordination with the US-led Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.

Italy's geographic and geopolitical positioning gives it a special role in this emerging order. The country is not only an anchor for EU-African ties but a natural terminal for the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor (IMEC), which is increasingly being linked to the Mattei Plan. IMEC provides physical infrastructure — ports, railways, digital and energy links — while the Mattei Plan contributes the social and human capital: vocational training, healthcare development, technical education, and local governance. Together, they form a complementary strategy for connectivity and development, countering the influence of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which many critics view as opaque and debt heavy.

The digital dimension of this strategy is also growing. At the summit, Italy announced support for the Blue Raman submarine cable project, which will link Europe, the Middle East, and India. Complementing this is the launch of the AI Hub for Sustainable Development at the UNDP office in Rome, a flagship initiative of Italy’s G7 presidency. The hub aims to support up to 500,000 African startups over the next three years by integrating artificial intelligence into UN development frameworks. Backed by G7 partners and major Western tech companies, the project positions Rome as a key player in Africa’s digital future.

This pivot to Africa is not occurring in a vacuum. With China's footprint on the continent expanding rapidly — often in ways that sideline transparency and sustainability — the Mattei Plan is meant to offer a credible and values-based alternative. Italy’s outreach has also been bolstered by growing support from Gulf countries, reflected in the joint backing of Sidi Ould Tah, a candidate from the Gulf region for president of the African Development Bank. This triangle — Rome, Brussels, and the Gulf — has the potential to form a powerful, multi-level coalition with African stakeholders.

As Meloni emphasised, the Mattei Plan is "not a spot initiative", but a long-term commitment. Follow-up steps are already in motion: she will travel to Addis Ababa in July, and African leaders will return to Rome for another summit in the fall. But the challenge now is less about vision than execution. Can this mosaic of initiatives — from corridors and AI hubs to debt restructuring — be translated into lasting governance structures and credible development outcomes?

African leaders present in Rome offered cautious optimism. They recognised that the governance architecture being shaped appears solid but emphasised that it must be matched with adequate financial tools and geopolitical coherence. In their view, Africa is not just a battleground for influence — it must become a space for shared construction, a future defined not by dependency but by co-authorship.

With today's summit, Italy has declared its intention to help write that future. Now it must follow through.

(Vas Shenoy is the Chief Representative of the Indian Chamber of Commerce for Italy. He is a Rome based entrepreneur, analyst and author. Views expressed are personal)

--IANS

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