Despite the persistence of crisis areas, Sub-Saharan Africa offers increasing opportunities for growth thanks to its considerable economic potential—rich natural resources and a young, dynamic population. However, this potential remains underutilised, and deeper integration of African economies into global markets is desirable, while fully respecting the needs and development plans of each local context.
At the Italy–Africa Summit in Rome in January 2024, Italy presented the Mattei Plan for Africa, a framework of projects inspired by a peer-to-peer equal approach and aimed at contributing to the growth of the African continent, in priority sectors such as education and training, health, agriculture, water and energy, and infrastructure.
Initially covering nine pilot countries (Algeria, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique and Tunisia), the Italian Government expanded the Plan on 9 January 2025 to include five additional countries: Angola, Ghana, Mauritania, Tanzania and Senegal. In line with its founding principles, the Plan’s initiatives were shaped through extensive dialogue with African partners, ensuring their full ownership of the objectives and of every stage of implementation.
In November 2025, the Seventh European Union–African Union Summit was held in Luanda, Angola. It provided an opportunity for both Unions’ Member States to review progress and reflect on future developments in the partnership between the two continents. A central element of this partnership is the Africa pillar of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy: of the €300 billion pledged under the plan, €150 billion—set to be mobilised by 2027—are destined exclusively for African countries.
In this context, both EU institutions and the African Union recognise the importance of synergies between the Global Gateway and the Mattei Plan promoted by the Italian Government, as well as the added value of the Mattei Plan as a tool contributing to the implementation of Global Gateway, following the “Team Europe” approach, which calls for a subsidiary role for EU Member States.