"We are working on a series of initiatives concerning Africa" for example "the Italy-Africa intergovernmental summit, which takes place every two years: the next one will take place in the autumn and could be the right occasion to definitively present our Plan Mattei".
Thus the
premier Giorgia Meloni
arriving at the hotel in Addis Ababa.
"In the meantime, we're working on it in cooperation with African countries because you can't expect to know what the best solutions are" without talking to those directly involved.
"October is an opportunity to arrive at the definitive presentation of the Plan".
Meloni landed at Bole International Airport,
welcomed by the Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed Ali, for the two-day visit to Ethiopia.
After the military honors and the review of the Guard of Honor, Meloni and the Ethiopian premier had a conversation in an airport lounge.
You also present the ambassador of Italy, Agostino Palese.
Edmondo Cirielli, deputy minister for foreign affairs, was also in the delegation.
Meloni then met President
Moussa Faki Mahamat at the headquarters of the African Union.
The premier was welcomed by the permanent representative of Italy to the African Union, ambassador Alberto Bertoni.
Cooperation, stability in the Horn of Africa and migrants are the topics at the center of the talks which see the prime minister also engaged in an Italy-Ethiopia-Somalia trilateral deal tomorrow morning.
At 6 pm Meloni will be at the National Palace for the bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali, which will be followed by the dinner of honor.
An interview with the Somali president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, is also on the agenda in the evening.
The trilateral meeting with Abiy and Mohamud is scheduled for tomorrow at 10 local time, again at the National Palace.
At the end, around 12, Meloni will visit the Italian state institute 'Galileo Galilei', the largest Italian school abroad with around 900 students.
The premier, Italian sources point out, is the first leader of a Western government to come to Ethiopia after the end of hostilities in Tigray.
And the first message you will deliver will be of support for the peace process that Addis Ababa is pursuing, not without tensions.
Ethiopia is one of the 11 priority African States for Italian Cooperation and one of the major beneficiaries of Public Development Assistance.
More than 60 development initiatives are underway in the country for a total value of around 265 million euros.
Ethiopia is among the beneficiary countries of the 2022 flow decree and represents a hub for the flows that cross the eastern borders towards Sudan up to Libya and from there to Italy: in the country there are 823,000 refugees and 4.2 million displaced persons .
On the economic front, the goal is to consolidate and increase already significant relationships: trade reached 276 million euros (+17.7%) in 2022 with Italian exports equal to 180 million (+2%) and imports equal to 96 million (+65.4%).
The main sectors in which Italian companies operate are: infrastructure and transport, agricultural machinery and industrial vehicles, textiles, energy, telecommunications, agro-industry, mining.
