The President of the Italian Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, and the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB) Group, Akinwumi A. Adesina, met on the sidelines of the G7 Heads of State and Government Summit in Puglia. The conversation focused on the imminent launch of a series of joint initiatives aimed at supporting the implementation of the Mattei Plan for Africa and the Rome Process on migration and development, as agreed at the Italy-Africa Summit held in Rome in January 2024.
“The Mattei Plan will promote economic and strategic partnerships with African nations and institutions, and the African Development Bank Group is our main strategic financial partner for the implementation of the Plan. Our collaboration will ensure support for the development of initiatives that will involve the African public and private sector, stimulating further opportunities for Italian businesses”, declared Prime Minister Meloni.
President Adesina said: “I applaud Prime Minister Meloni for launching the Mattei Plan and for choosing the African Development Bank Group as a strategic partner to implement it in Africa. Our partnership will generate significant development impacts in all African countries, will expand access to energy, address climate change, support food security, strengthen health services, and improve skills and jobs for young people. All of this will help create greater economic opportunities in Africa and to stem migratory pressures”.
Establishment of a special multi-donor fund serving the Mattei Plan for Africa and the Rome Process on migration and development. The Fund targets climate-aligned, high-impact investments in key strategic sectors supporting sovereign entities in Africa. Thanks to its “multi-donor” nature, the Fund will be able to attract other international partners to join forces and leverage funding. Italy announced an initial commitment of approximately $130 million in grants and highly concessional loans, along with a further commitment from the United Arab Emirates. The African Development Bank Group has committed to providing its own resources at least equal to the contributions made by the Fund for each project.
A bilateral agreement between Italy and the African Development Bank Group provides for a co-financing agreement and a trust fund to finance joint projects. Italy has committed approximately $150 million in grants and highly concessional loans, and the African Development Bank Group is committed to matching at least that amount. The objective is to pursue Italian and African Development Bank Group priorities, as envisaged by the Mattei Plan for Africa and the Italian development cooperation strategy, in order to promote strategic economic partnerships with Nations and institutions African communities, building common business opportunities and increasing investment flows. The priority sectors are: energy, water, agriculture, health, education and training, and physical and digital infrastructure.
A common platform to promote private sector investment – Growth and Resilience platform for Africa – GRAf. The platform aims to mobilize net capital for regional funds that will finance entrepreneurial activities to support job creation in Africa. Cassa Depositi e Prestiti (CDP), the Italian development financial institution, has expressed its intention to catalyze up to approximately 820 million dollars distributed over a five-year horizon together with the main African and international partners, while CDP and the African Development Bank are considering allocating up to $200 million each over the same period.
Furthermore, Italy has already committed to providing up to $45 million to the Alliance for Green Infrastructure in Africa (AGIA), a transformative initiative promoted by the African Development Bank Group, the African Union and Africa-50 and aimed at mobilizing 10 billion dollars to support investments in the green infrastructure sector across the entire African continent.
The Bank’s top management will scrupulously convey these joint initiatives through the decision-making processes of the Banking Group.
, the joint press release){kind=link}