by Arthur Muliro

In the grand theater of international diplomacy, Italy's unveiling of its Piano Mattei initiative represented a moment of profound potential—and equally profound missed opportunity. This initiative seeks to establish a new framework for Italy’s relations with African countries, focusing on equitable partnerships, economic cooperation, and sustainable development. 

Presented as a comprehensive strategy for engagement with African nations, the plan reveals more about Italy's persistent colonial mindset than any genuine desire for transformative partnership. If this was supposed to be a partnership, it was telling that at its launch, the African Union Commission Chairman Moussa Faki Mahamat, while speaking in the Italian Parliament, told the audience that African countries would have appreciated being consulted beforehand. In other words, what was being sold as a partnership plan was a precooked document to which the African countries were expected to accede happily. 

Indeed, a recent investigative documentary by RAI on its ‘Report’ program sheds light on one of the supposed flagship biofuel projects under the Piano Mattei in Kenya: a 210 million Euro investment in castor oil plantations that are supposed to involve up to 400,000 farmers. Based on the farmers’ testimonies, the initial results of this investment are a colossal failure. None of the farmers was paid anything close to the promised 350-540 Euros per half hectare cultivated. Actual payments hovered around one euro for the castor oil that was eventually harvested. It is unfair compensation, whichever way one looks at it. Needless to say, the farmers are bitter and deluded, and it is unlikely that they will willingly participate any further in this experiment. This, clearly, is not the kind of publicity that the Piano Mattei sought or needs, but it highlights the inherent structural problems that it will struggle to overcome. 

The Historical Shadows 

To understand the Piano Mattei, we must first confront the long, painful shadow of Italian colonial history. Between 1890 and 1943, Italy's colonial adventures in Africa—particularly in Libya, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia—were characterized by brutal violence, systemic oppression, and a fundamental denial of human dignity. Concentration camps, massacres, and systematic racial subjugation were not aberrations but core strategies of colonial control. 

The memory of these atrocities still lingers, fostering resentment and mistrust in some African countries. Unlike other colonial powers, Italy has hardly done anything to confront or atone for its colonial past publicly. The lack of widespread acknowledgment or reparative gestures has left scars, creating skepticism about Italy’s intentions in contemporary initiatives.  

Today’s Piano Mattei, despite its modern veneer, carries unsettling echoes of this historical trauma. It appears less like a genuine partnership and more like a sophisticated mechanism for managing migration and securing access to primary resources - a 21st-century version of colonial extraction dressed in diplomatic language. 

The Migration Illusion 

At its core, the Piano Mattei fundamentally misunderstands migration. It treats African movement as a problem to be controlled rather than a complex socio-economic phenomenon rooted in more profound systemic challenges. Migration is not a tap that can be simply turned off through economic intervention; it is a dynamic reflection of global inequality, economic disparity, and the fundamental human desire for opportunity. 

The plan assumes that by providing minimal economic incentives, African nations can be convinced to prevent their citizens from seeking better lives elsewhere. This approach is not only naive but profoundly disrespectful to the agency and aspirations of African populations. 

Three critical weaknesses stand out when examining the Piano Mattei: 

1. Lack of Genuine Consultation 

The initiative appears to have been designed with minimal input from African stakeholders, a sentiment captured in the remarks of AU Commission Chair Moussa Faki. This lack of consultation is reflected in the very poor background analyses of African challenges and opportunities and in the top-down approach that treats African nations as passive recipients rather than active, equal partners.  

2. Asymmetric Power Dynamics 

The plan seeks to perpetuate a transactional model in which economic engagement is primarily viewed through a lens of Italian national interests, particularly migration control, bio-surveillance against potential pathogens, and access to (energy) resources. 

3. Minimal Developmental Focus 

While economic investment is proposed, more evidence of a comprehensive strategy for sustainable development, technology transfer, or genuine capacity building is needed.  

Thinking Beyond Dependency 

African leaders are increasingly sophisticated in their approach to international partnerships. They are not seeking handouts or temporary economic pacification but genuine, mutually respectful engagement that recognizes their sovereignty and developmental aspirations. Indeed, the continent’s aspirations are captured in the African Union’s Agenda 2063, a long-term strategic framework that aims to transform Africa into a global powerhouse of the future. It envisions an integrated, prosperous, and peaceful continent driven by its own citizens and emphasizing unity, dignity, and self-reliance. Central to its vision are goals like inclusive economic growth, sustainable development, infrastructure modernization, and fostering good governance and peace. Key initiatives include the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), renewable energy projects, and youth empowerment to leverage Africa’s demographic potential. Agenda 2063 is rooted in African ownership and seeks to redefine the continent’s role in global affairs. The AfCFTA, for instance, represents a landmark initiative demonstrating this evolving perspective. It is a continental strategy designed to create a unified market, reduce dependency on external powers, and foster intra-African economic cooperation. 

Against this backdrop, the Piano Mattei appears almost anachronistic—a remnant of outdated engagement models that African nations are working to dismantle systematically.  

Opportunities for a Constructive Alternative? 

A transformative partnership between Italy and African nations demands a radical paradigm shift from transactional engagement to genuine collaboration. This requires a comprehensive approach where African stakeholders are not mere recipients but active architects of development strategies, with initiatives co-designed through deep, continuous dialogue that respects the continent's diverse complexities. This will call for the creation of mechanisms for constant, meaningful engagement. 

Furthermore, the approach chosen will need to adopt transparent investment protocols that go beyond financial transactions, focusing instead on meaningful technology transfer, local capacity building, and mechanisms that ensure genuine value addition for African economies. Critically, this model must fundamentally recognize African sovereignty—moving away from neocolonial frameworks and acknowledging African nations as sophisticated, autonomous partners with the agency to define their developmental trajectories, technological aspirations, and economic futures. 

This necessity is further reinforced by the emergent geopolitical realities that fundamentally challenge the logic of the Piano Mattei, exposing its limitations in a rapidly changing African landscape that demands more sophisticated approaches to international engagement. Africa’s growing engagement with other global partners like China, Russia, and Turkey, often offering significant investments with fewer conditions, makes Italy’s overtures less competitive. The plan’s focus on African gas to secure Europe’s energy needs risks clashing with global and African priorities for renewable energy, undermining its sustainability narrative. Additionally, health securitization and the securitization of migration alienates African nations, as it prioritizes Italy’s domestic concerns over African ambitions for mobility and dignity. Political instability, rising anti-Western sentiment, and Italy’s colonial legacy further erode trust, challenging its ability to forge meaningful, long-term partnerships. Thus, the Piano Mattei must emphasize African agency, align with sustainable development goals, and avoid replicating neocolonial patterns to remain credible. 

Economic Opportunities Being Overlooked 

Italy is overlooking massive economic opportunities by maintaining a narrow, control-oriented perspective with its current focus on energy security and migration control. While addressing immediate needs, Italy risks missing out on Africa’s vast economic potential. Africa represents the world’s largest emerging market, driven by a rapidly growing, young population with increasing purchasing power. By prioritizing energy partnerships around fossil fuels, Italy overlooks Africa’s booming renewable energy sector, where countries like Morocco, South Africa, and Kenya are leading in solar, wind, and hydropower investments. Furthermore, Africa holds massive untapped technological and entrepreneurial potential, especially in sectors like fintech, agri-tech, and digital services, which Italy is not fully capitalizing on. The continent’s strategic positioning in a multi-polar global economy also presents opportunities for Italy to engage in critical trade and infrastructure projects that align with Africa’s push for economic diversification and regional integration. By not broadening its focus, Italy risks being sidelined as other global actors like China, the Gulf States, Turkey, and India deepen their economic footprints in Africa. 

Recommendations for Genuine Engagement 

Shifting the focus from migration control to a broader economic partnership based on shared growth is essential to strengthening the Piano Mattei and transforming it into a genuine collaboration that benefits Italy and Africa. This means moving away from securitized approaches and prioritizing transparent, mutually beneficial investment protocols supporting Africa’s development goals. 

The Piano Mattei could offer a nuanced approach to supporting the African Continental Free Trade Area and the AU’s Agenda 2063 by addressing critical implementation challenges through targeted collaboration. By prioritizing infrastructure development such as cross-border railway networks in the Sahel region, digital connectivity projects in East Africa, and renewable energy installations in West African coastal states, Italy can help bridge the economic disparities that currently impede intra-African trade and help to unlock the continent’s massive entrepreneurial potential. 

The partnership model should focus on creating mutually beneficial economic frameworks that support local value chains, such as agricultural processing facilities in Ethiopia, textile manufacturing clusters in Rwanda, and technology innovation hubs in Kenya. Providing flexible financing mechanisms through specialized investment funds and supporting technical vocational training programs can empower smaller economies to become competitive participants in regional economic integration. Specific initiatives like joint research programs between Italian universities and African institutions, technical exchanges in sectors like agro-industrial processing, and targeted support for small and medium enterprises could further reinforce and demonstrate the potential for practical collaboration. While not comprehensive, this approach might represent a promising pathway to overcoming structural barriers, offering a more respectful and collaborative model of economic engagement that goes beyond traditional aid paradigms. The potential synergy between the Piano Mattei and AfCFTA lies in its ability to provide practical implementation support, foster knowledge exchange, and create innovative economic partnerships that could transform African economic development's landscape by addressing systemic infrastructure, skills, and financial access challenges. 

Furthermore, Italy must recognize Africa as a strategic partner in the global economy rather than a problem to be managed, embracing Africa’s rising influence and role in the multipolar world. This approach, which supports regional integration, creates long-term job opportunities, and fosters people-to-people ties, will lay the foundation for a partnership built on mutual respect and shared prosperity.  

This calls for a profound paradigm shift in international economic cooperation, fundamentally reimagining historical relationships and power dynamics. This transformation demands moving beyond traditional donor-recipient models towards genuine partnership frameworks prioritizing African agency, self-determination, and contextual economic innovation. 

If the above proposals are to take root, a series of cultural changes will become inevitable. At the institutional level, bureaucratic systems must develop more adaptive, flexible governance mechanisms that respond to complex, evolving economic landscapes. Diplomatic engagement must be restructured to create platforms of mutual respect where decision-making is decentralized and African stakeholders possess genuine co-design capabilities. The economic planning mindset must undergo a radical recalibration, shifting from short-term metrics to holistic value creation that embraces indigenous knowledge, local innovation, and contextual adaptability. Educational and knowledge ecosystems must be redesigned to support reciprocal intellectual exchange, challenging existing hierarchical knowledge transfer models and creating spaces for genuine cross-cultural collaboration. Financial frameworks will require reimagination, developing risk-sharing mechanisms and investment instruments that align with local economic realities rather than mimicking traditional Western models. Finally, technological collaboration must evolve from mere transfer to co-innovation, supporting distributed technological development that empowers local adaptation and innovation.  

These systemic changes extend beyond technical implementation, demanding a comprehensive reconfiguration of power dynamics that have historically marginalized African economic potential. The ultimate goal is to create an economic cooperation model that recognizes Africa's complexity, respects its diverse economic landscapes, and enables genuine, equitable partnerships to drive sustainable, contextually rooted economic transformation. Success hinges not on grand diplomatic gestures but on the nuanced, patient work of rebuilding economic relationships founded on mutual understanding, respect, and shared developmental objectives. 

A Choice of Futures 

Italy stands at a critical juncture. The Piano Mattei represents a choice between perpetuating outdated, neo-colonial approaches or becoming a genuine, forward-looking partner in a shared global future. By addressing Africa’s aspirations while acknowledging Italy’s own needs, the Piano Mattei can become a truly transformative initiative. 

True partnership requires humility, genuine listening, and a fundamental recognition of shared humanity. It demands moving beyond transactional models to create mutual respect, opportunity, and collective progress frameworks. 

The opportunity is profound. The choice is Italy’s. 

This article was originally published by CeSPI (Centro Studi di Politica Internazionale) and is available in Italian here.