The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani, and the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, are in Nouakchott today for the first part of a mission to sub-Saharan Africa.
In Mauritania, a priority country for Italian Cooperation, Ministers Tajani and Piantedosi will meet with Prime Minister Mokhtar Ould Diay, Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohamed Salem Ould Merzoug, and Minister of the Interior Mohamed Ahmed Ould Mohamed Lemine. The Ministers will also officially inaugurate the Italian Embassy in Nouakchott, opened in 2024 to revitalize bilateral relations with the country.
Over the past 10 years, Italy has opened embassies in Niger, Guinea, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Mauritania to strengthen relations with the region.
The visit to Mauritania is the first stop on a mission that will also take the twoMministers to Senegal and Niger, a concrete sign of Africa’s strategic priority for the Government. Mauritania plays an important role in the stability and security of the entire region and is a growing political and economic partner.
The mission’s objective is to strengthen the partnership with three key West African countries, placing institutional stabilization, socio-economic development, the fight against jihadist violence, and the fight against illegal trafficking of weapons, drugs, and human beings at the core of the collaboration.
This region also offers interesting prospects for growth and economic partnership, which Italy intends to integrate with those of the Mattei Plan (which, since 2025, has included five new countries, including Mauritania and Senegal), a program of interventions inspired by an equal-minded approach and aimed at contributing to the socioeconomic growth of the African continent.
Within this framework, a Business Forum will be organized in Dakar to revitalize Italy’s economic presence in the region, which already boasts over 170 Italian companies.
The mission will also confirm support for the presence of Italian Catholic missionaries in Africa, as a follow-up to the 2023 Conference of Italian Missionaries and the meeting with missionaries on the sidelines of the G7 in Pescara. To underline this commitment and the importance of interreligious dialogue and the protection of Christian communities, Minister Tajani will meet with the Bishop of Nouakchott and the Archbishops of Dakar and Niamey.
