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ROME, Italy – The President of the Council of Ministers of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, co-chaired the high-level event “The Mattei Plan for Africa and Global Gateway: A common effort with the African Continent” in Rome.
The event was attended by African Authorities from Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania and Zambia, including the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union. The event was also attended by the heads of International Financial Institutions, namely the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank Group, the African Development Bank and the Africa Finance Corporation.
Italy and the European Commission reaffirmed their strategic partnership under the framework of the Mattei Plan for Africa and the EU’s Global Gateway strategy to work with Africa to realize the shared vision for sustainable growth, resilience, and mutually beneficial cooperation.
The European Commission and Italy underscored their commitment to mobilizing transformative investments along strategic economic corridors, with a focus on the Lobito Corridor. The Lobito Corridor is recognized as a transformative regional project — in addition to a railway development project, it is also a broader economic corridor that will connect landlocked resource-rich regions of Southern Africa to global markets, including Europe.
Collective efforts including the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding by Angola, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the EU, U.S., Italy and African Development Bank and the Africa Finance Corporation, ensure the Corridor is positioned as a high-impact vector of sustainable development.
The Leaders reaffirmed their intention to accelerate investments across interconnected sectors, including transport infrastructure, energy systems, agricultural value chains, and trade facilitation—driven by a 360° approach that empowers local economies and promotes inclusive regional integration.
In this context, Italy and the EU jointly welcomed the growing alignment between Global Gateway and the Mattei Plan, and emphasized the importance of a coherent Team Europe approach, including enhanced coordination with international financial institutions such as the African Development Bank and the Africa Finance Corporation. The Leaders recognized the critical role of the private sector in delivering the next phase of Lobito, stressing the importance of scalable, climate-aligned, and commercially viable investments.
The Leaders committed to advancing trilateral cooperation in sustainable agriculture, focusing on climate-resilient value chains like coffee. A new initiative—under the Mattei Plan and Global Gateway—will strengthen East Africa’s coffee sector through regional integration and the engagement of the Italian private sector.
Promoted by Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and supported by UNIDO, Cassa Depositi e Prestiti, and key multilateral partners, the initiative will use targeted financial tools and explore the deployment of insurance schemes to boost resilience and benefit local communities.
In this context, the EU is signing today a guarantee with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti to accelerate the development of sustainable agrifood systems through capacity building and access to innovative finance under the TERRA initiative (Transforming and Empowering Resilient and Responsible Agribusiness), with a contribution of 109 million euros.
