ROME (Reuters) – Italy’s government will announce a plan focused on energy cooperation with Africa in October, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday during a visit to Ethiopia.
The so-called “Mattei plan”, named after the founder of Italian energy group Eni, Enrico Mattei, aims to turn Italy into a major energy hub, distributing gas from North Africa and the Mediterranean to the rest of Europe.
Meloni said her country planned to host a summit with African nations in October during which the plan would be presented.
“I think it could be the right occasion to finally present our Mattei Plan,” she said in Addis Ababa, in comments broadcast by RAI public television.
African countries such as Algeria last year replaced a significant part of Italy’s gas imports that previously came from Russia.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini and Federico Maccioni, editing by Angus MacSwan)
