Published On 4/24/2026
The Mattei Plan for Africa is an initiative launched by the Italian government in 2024 with the aim of reformulating Italy’s relations with the African continent on the basis of equal partnerships and mutual benefits in the areas of development, migration management and energy security.
The plan gives priority to multiple sectors, most notably education, health, water and energy, in addition to developing projects extending to advanced fields such as artificial intelligence and cooperation in the space sector.
Mate’s plan
The Italian government presented the structure and details of the Mattei Plan at the Italy-Africa Summit held on 29 January 2024 in Rome, which saw the participation of representatives of 46 African countries, along with the Presidents of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Council, as well as financial institutions and multilateral development banks.
Mattei’s plan is based on the principle of equal partnerships between the Italian and African sides, going beyond the traditional relationship model based on the duality of donor and recipient, according to what the Italian government explained.
The plan derives its name from the Italian businessman and politician Enrico Mattei, founder of the major energy company Eni, who is credited with a prominent role in restructuring the energy sector in Italy after World War II, in addition to his policies that sought to strengthen partnerships with oil-producing countries on a more balanced basis compared to contracts of an exploitative nature.
Objectives
The Mattei Plan aims to strengthen cooperation between Italy and the African continent in the fields of development, investment, infrastructure and energy, by developing new projects and supporting existing initiatives in 6 main areas: education, health, water, agriculture, energy, and physical and digital infrastructure.
It also focuses on ensuring the participation of African countries in all stages of project design and implementation, ensuring that they benefit directly from the economic and social returns, and building sustainable resources that support development in the long term.
The plan also includes developing additional projects in various fields such as culture and sports, all the way to artificial intelligence and cooperation in the field of space.
In the energy sector, which is the most important for Rome, the plan aims to transform Italy into a center for transporting natural gas supplies from Africa to the rest of Europe, with Eni playing a pivotal role in implementing the initiative, in addition to enhancing energy efficiency and encouraging the use of renewable energy sources.
Finance
In its first phase, Italy allocated a budget estimated at approximately 5.5 billion euros (about 6 billion dollars) for the plan, which includes loans, grants, and guarantees.
The Italian Climate Fund plays a major role in financing initiatives in the field of renewable energy, restoring biodiversity and promoting the sustainable use of natural resources, as it allocates 70% of its resources to Africa.
Italy has also activated a set of financing tools to support the plan, including the “financing mechanism for the Mattei Plan and the Rome Pathway,” which aims to support the most prominent initiatives within the plan and the Rome Pathway for Migration and Development, with an initial value of about 137 million euros from Italy, with the African Development Bank participating with contributions no less than the total contributions of the other partners for each investment.
Projects
At the Italian-African summit held in Rome on January 29, 2024, Prime Minister Meloni revealed a number of pilot projects in various fields, including establishing a training center for renewable energy in Morocco, rehabilitating schools in Algeria, improving health care services for mothers and children in Côte d’Ivoire, in addition to a project to monitor the agricultural sector in Algeria, and working to develop water networks in the Congo.
In April 2026, Kenya and Italy, within the framework of the Mati Initiative, adopted a bilateral action plan for the period 2026-2029, and the two parties also signed eight agreements in the fields of technical education, environment, defense, and scientific research, the most prominent of which is an agreement to modernize between 60 and 70 technical and vocational training institutions in Kenya, at a cost of approximately $62.7 million, and includes student and academic exchange programs.
