Essay: “This is the year of maturity for the Mattei Plan. Projects worth over 550 million with the World Bank”

“We are now in the third year of the Plan’s implementation. I would describe this as a year of maturity: measurable results on the ground, a defined financial framework and consolidated international cooperation, particularly with the European Union and the main international financial and development institutions.” These were the words of Fabrizio Saggio, Coordinator of the Task Force for the implementation of the Mattei Plan, during the hearing before the joint committees of the Senate’s Foreign Affairs and Defence Committees and the Chamber of Deputies’ Foreign Affairs and European Affairs Committees, on the Third Annual Report to Parliament on the state of implementation of the Mattei Plan for Africa: “It is clear,” he said, “that the Mattei Plan cannot move forward and grow as a solely Italian initiative: it must become international.” The scope of the Plan, Saggio explained, has expanded “from the nine countries in the initial phase to the current eighteen, in line with the incremental approach promoted since the Strategy’s inception” and “the latest SACE report records significant increases in exports precisely in the eighteen countries covered by the Mattei Plan, with a 4.1 per cent rise compared with the previous year”. Furthermore, since its establishment, the Technical Committee of the Italian Climate Fund has approved fifteen initiatives in Africa, including projects worth one billion euros in the last twelve months alone.

Saggio recalled that, during Italy’s G7 presidency, “for the first time we dedicated a special session to Africa” and that the French presidency adopted this year, “partly at Italy’s request, a sectoral declaration on the system of international partnerships, citing and referring to the Mattei Plan as a model for partnership with Africa”. On the financial front, Fabrizio Saggio outlined the launch of the conversion of approximately €269 million in bilateral receivables owed to Italy by low- and middle-income African nations into development projects agreed with partner countries: “Our debt conversion initiative responds to the need to transform financial liabilities into real investments in human capital and infrastructure,” he said, emphasising that this is a “structural choice, not reliant on individual initiatives”, carried out in full coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Economy. Saggio also noted that the work of the Mattei Plan Task Force has led to the full operationalisation of the Plan’s financial architecture: the Mattei Plan and Rome Process Financing Facility with the African Development Bank (fifteen projects currently underway, totalling over 100 million in funding); the Growth and Resilience Platform for Africa (GRAF), managed by CDP; the Plafond Africa, which enables Cassa Depositi e Prestiti to commit up to 500 million euros of its own resources; and Simest’s ‘Misura Africa’ scheme, providing over 100 million euros in support of Italian SMEs.

On the multilateral front, Fabrizio Saggio then highlighted the mobilisation of around four billion euros in guarantees by SACE and put the value of projects launched in partnership with the World Bank at over 550 million euros, including the ASENT programme in Mozambique, budget support in Kenya and Ethiopia, and put the value of projects carried out with the African Development Bank at nearly 200 million euros, including the Lobito Economic Corridor Development in Angola. These are strategic partnerships that provide significant leverage through mechanisms involving co-financing and the mobilisation of substantial additional resources. “Over 280 million people in Africa suffer from undernourishment” and more than 95 per cent of the continent’s agriculture still depends on seasonal rainfall. Saggio pointed out that, according to United Nations estimates, Africa’s population has reached 1.55 billion people, the majority of whom are young. However, “according to UNICEF, one in five children remains outside the education system” and, based on World Bank data, “only 68 per cent of the population has access to basic services”. “Given the scale of these challenges, which are clearly all interconnected, a structural, wide-ranging and long-term approach is required”.

Over the next twelve months, the Coordinator announced, the Mattei Plan for Africa will continue “with a particular focus on the water, education and critical minerals sectors”. The aim for the second half of 2026 is to scale up initiatives “with at least a further 500 million euros in funding for projects in the energy, water and infrastructure sectors, based on requests received from the African continent”.