IL PIANO MATTEI: VERSO UNA NUOVA AFRICA POLICY?

The Mattei Plan for Africa is a project that aims to strengthen economic, social and political cooperation between Italy and African countries, with a particular focus on specific sectors: from energy to infrastructure develop- ment and sustainability. The ambition of the Plan is to offer a new vision for Italian foreign policy towards African countries and shows a renewed interest in the continent through a strategy based on investments and a pragmatic design approach to global challenges. While on the one hand there is no single document that summarizes the contents and objectives of the Plan, on the other hand one cannot fail to identify the text of the de- cree-law 161/2023, then coordinated with the conversion law 2/2024, as a starting document that inaugurates a new season for cooperation between Italy and the countries of the African continent. The aim of this article is to explore the contents, objectives and operating bodies of the Mattei Plan, starting from the legislative text and examining its historical roots, political objectives and concrete tools that the Italian government intends to use to achieve this vision, as well as assessing the possible implications of a new Italian foreign policy towards the African continent.