Libya continues to be at the center of the executive’s North African policy Giorgia Meloni. The Prime Minister, together with the Minister of Made in Italy Adolfo Ursowent to Tripoli, where he participated in the Italy-Libya Business Forum and had a meeting with the prime minister of the Government of National Unity, Abdul Hamid Dbeibah. During the visit, according to Italian sources, agreements were signed in various sectors: from exports to healthcare, through civil aviation. According to the same sources, during the visit the Mattei Plan was also discussed. Numerous Italian companies also took part in the forum, including Eni, Enav, Simest, Saipem and Sace.
“I am proud to announce that Ita Airways will return to connect our two nations from January 2025. And I am proud that Italy was the first Western nation to cancel the negative opinion on business travel to Libya”, declared the Melonthe. “This is my fourth visit to Libya since I took over the leadership of the government. This frequency of mutual visits is the result of a very precise political choice by our government: we consider the relationship with Libya a priority for Italy and a priority for Europe. And we are convinced that the deep cooperation that binds us has not yet expressed its full potential,” he continued. “Libya represents a first-rate economic partner for Italy, our excellent trade relations are proof of this,” he added. “We are in fact a natural bridge between Europe, the wider Mediterranean, Africa and the Middle East. This offers us a double opportunity: to work to become a hub for energy flows between the Mediterranean, Africa and Europe, a real production and distribution hub and thus be the pivot of conjunction and connection of new interconnections, which must be clearly infrastructural and economic, vocations to which we are also giving voice through our Mattei Plan for Africa”, he also said.
Ursusfor his part, underlined that the Libyan forum “represents an important and significant turning point compared to what has unfortunately happened in recent years in Libya”. The Made in Italy minister also hoped that the Mattei Plan could become a strategic project for the EU. Finally, second Ursusthe agreements signed “also open new paths as regards pharmaceuticals, biotech, life sciences, renewable energy, critical raw materials that serve the dual transition that Europe wants to achieve with green technology and digital technology”.
In short, Libya confirms itself as absolutely strategic in the Mediterranean policy of the country Melons. Furthermore, Italy has an interest not only in intensifying economic relations with the North African country but also in promoting its stabilization at a political-institutional level. In this sense, our government’s diplomatic activity should be highly appreciated by both the EU and NATO. In fact, let’s not forget that Libya is split between two executives and that the eastern one gravitates around the general Khalifa Haftar: figure historically supported by Moscow. That same Moscow which, in turn, is strengthening its own longa manus on the Sahel.
The Mattei Plan therefore represents an excellent opportunity to counter the hyperactivism of Russians and Chinese on the African continent. Without forgetting that a possible return of Donald Trump at the White House it could bring back the logic of the Abraham Accords: a logic that cannot be ruled out could also be extended to the Maghreb. In which case, the Mattei Plan could represent a crucial mediation tool. An instrument that would give our country a central role, on a diplomatic and geopolitical level, in the Mediterranean.
