Countries included in the area: Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Comoros, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, São Tomé and Príncipe, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe.
Southern Africa is an area of growing importance for Italian initiatives in many fields, from economics to security and political stability, as well as culture and science. In recent years, Italy has paid particular attention to issues such as energy transition, environmental protection, infrastructure connectivity, and sustainable agro-industrial development, negotiating agreements with various countries in the region.
From an economic relations perspective, the main partner countries are Angola and South Africa, which play a key proactive role in many regional and continental initiatives and with which Italy has historically enjoyed excellent political and economic relations. They are joined by Mozambique, a long-standing partner thanks to the central role played by Italy in the negotiations that ended the civil war in 1992, which is one of the focus countries of Italian Development Cooperation. Relations with other countries in the region, including Tanzania and Zambia, are also growing steadily.
As proof of its great importance for Italy, three countries in the region have been chosen as targets for the Mattei Plan for Africa (Mozambique, since its launch in 2024, Angola and Tanzania, since 2025), with other states currently involved in individual projects. The extension of the Mattei Plan to this region is the result of the extraordinary wealth of many countries in critical raw materials and minerals, which are fundamental in global value chains, as well as their immense energy and agricultural potential, largely untapped due to the need for infrastructure investment. In some of the initiatives in these areas, Italy’s action is coordinated with that of the European Union (Global Gateway) and the G7 (PGII), as in the case of the Lobito Corridor infrastructure project.
Another priority for our country is the security and stability of the region, a prerequisite for consolidating the development results achieved, to which Italy is constantly contributing through numerous initiatives in synergy with its partners, especially the European Union, concentrated in two main crisis scenarios.
In the Great Lakes region, the conflict in the eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which has been ongoing for over thirty years and is linked to the consequences of the Rwandan genocide (1994) and two major regional wars (1996-1997 and 1998-2003), is going through a complex phase. Various regional and international mediation initiatives are seeking a solution to the tensions between neighboring states (such as Rwanda and Burundi) and the humanitarian emergency affecting the entire area.
On the Indian Ocean coast, another critical situation is that of the province of Cabo Delgado, the northernmost province of Mozambique, which has been affected since 2017 by the insurrection of the Islamist terrorist group Al-Shabaab/Ansar al-Sunna. Our country is contributing to this effort by supporting the European Union Military Training Mission in Mozambique (EUMAM Mozambique, formerly EUTM-M).
In addition to bilateral relations with individual countries, Italy maintains stable multilateral relations with the main regional economic organizations: the East African Community (EAC), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), and the Southern African Development Community (SADC). Italy also supports in-depth dialogue between these organizations and the European Union, reinforcing the model of European integration.