Nairobi, January 28 (EFE). – The Presidents of Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia and the Republic of Congo announced this Sunday that they had traveled to Rome, where the Italy-Africa Summit will begin tomorrow at the request of the Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, to discuss cooperation and migration flows to speak.
The heads of state of the above-mentioned countries met in the Italian capital with the Prime Minister of Ethiopia, Abiy Ahmed, who arrived earlier to receive an award from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) this Sunday for the efforts of the Ethiopian Executive “to achieve food security in the country.”
Around twenty heads of state and government are expected to meet in Italy, where leaders from the African Union (AU), the European Union (EU) and several international organizations will also be present.
There, Kenya's President William Ruto, who organized the first African Climate Summit (ACS) in Nairobi last September, will give a speech on energy security, the Kenyan presidency reported on Sunday.
Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud will also give a speech, but he will focus “on migration, mobility and security” and “emphasize the importance of regional stability,” the Somali presidency said.
For his part, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki expressed interest in “promoting an equal partnership in various sectors, including economy and infrastructure, food security, energy security and the green transition, vocational training and culture.”
Denis Sassou-Nguesso, the President of the Republic of Congo, published on the social network X (formerly Twitter) a photo of his arrival in Rome and thanked the Italian government for inviting him to the summit.
“We aim to build a model of equal cooperation that rejects the predatory approach and is capable of creating benefits for all” on “migration issues, the climate-energy nexus and food security”, explained Meloni, who this year , the country holds the presidency of the G7.
During the summit, the “Mattei Plan” will be officially presented with the aim of building a new partnership between Italy and African states that will give Rome more international influence, especially in the Mediterranean, and ultimately allow greater immigration control.
The far-right Meloni, who promised to curb the flow of landings throughout her career and in the election campaign that brought her to power in October 2022, is trying to reduce migration pressure during her time in office.
After more than 157,000 migrants arrived on Italy's shores in 2023, a new record, the head of the executive branch announced that she is considering the possibility of opening reception centers in Africa. EFE
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