Italy Plans to Invite Several African Countries to G7 Summit 2024

As the rotating chair of the G7 Summit in 2024, Italy announced its intention to invite several African countries to the upcoming G7 Summit to be held in Rome from 13 to 15 June 2024. At the moment, the countries to be invited include Algeria, Egypt, Kenya, Tunisia as well as representatives from the African Union (#AU).

The decision is consistent with the themes of the Summit which will cover the Development of Africa, Migration Issues, #AI amongst others. In addition, Brazil, South Africa and India, which are members of both #G20 and #BRICS, would also be invited.

By hosting the 1st Italy-Africa Summit in January 2024 in Rome, Italian PM Giorgia Meloni provided some indication that Africa would be central to Italy’s Foreign Policy. At the time, she called for a ‘new strategic partnership’ with Africa in order to alleviate the issue of illegal migration across the Mediterranean. To back up her plan, she pledged EUR 5.5 billion in order to contribute to ‘root out to profound causes of illegal migration’ and to position Italy as an Energy Hub between the EU and AU.

The new Italy-Africa partnership is based on the Mattei Plan, which is named after Enrico Mattei, the founder of Italy energy state company ENI. In the 1950s, Mattei put forward a visionary plan for the development of Africa centered around monetizing their energy resources.

In getting the AU involved in G7 Summit, Italian PM Meloni aims to kill two birds with one stone. Firstly, by friendshoring energy from Africa, she hopes to foster the #EnergySecurity of the EU while reducing the dependence on Russia. Secondly, the proposed massive investments in Africa would boost economic development and create job opportunities, which in turn would curb illegal migration.