Grazie, Presidente Meloni – cara Giorgia.

Thank you for hosting us in this stunning corner of the eternal city.

Presidents, Prime Ministers,

Excellencies, Ladies and gentlemen,

This is the third time in just over a year that we gather here in Italy, to advance our investment partnership with Africa. There is a new dynamism in how Africa and Europe work together. Because today, our interests are more aligned than ever. Africa is a rising continent. In the last decade, you have created 100 million new jobs for the people of Africa. This is impressive. And many more will be created in the coming years. In traditional sectors like agriculture, but also in new industries like clean energy to critical minerals and AI. Europe wants to be your partner in this. Because we have shared interests. We want to boost clean energy production in both continents. We want to build modern economic corridors. We are linking our digital markets. We are investing in health and education. And we are both strengthening our food security. Our aim is a strong African economy and a strong European economy working hand in hand.

For all of this we need investment. Europe has created the Global Gateway investment fund. We launched it in 2022 at the Europe-Africa Summit. We started with a massive firepower of EUR 150 billion for Africa. We are combining resources of our European Union and the Member States to draw in private capital. We see that other countries around the world are cutting their funding. We think this is wrong. Attracting new investment to Africa is in both our interest. And todays event shows that our approach is delivering.

I would like to thank again PM Meloni, dear Giorgia, for Italys strong mobilisation, with the Mattei Plan. This is Team Europe in action. And I would like to thank our African partners for the very close cooperation of these years.

Today we are signing a host of new investment agreements. They are bringing more private capital from Europe to Africa, not only from Team Europe, but also from international financial institutions.

Let me focus on todays main topics. First, on large-scale infrastructure. Investing in infrastructure is not just building railways, bridges and dams. It is also investing in trainings for local workers, because that builds capacity and that is how transfer of expertise happens. And this results in positive spillovers all across the local economies of Africa. There is no better example than our work on the Lobito corridor. We launched it together at the G20 Summit in 2023. We have mobilised investment in railways and other transport modes, to connect the landlocked mining regions of DRC and Zambia to the Atlantic coast in Angola. But the corridor is so much more than a railway to mining regions. Today, we are signing three financing agreements with Angola, so that the entire economy of the country can benefit from the corridor. We will fund vocational training, so that the people of Angola have the right skills

for the jobs created by our investments. We will bring local food to national and international markets. And we will promote tourism along the corridor. This creates local growth and jobs – all along value chains and all across the economy.

Second, on digital connectivity. Over the last decade, Africa has more than doubled its internet connections. But Sub-Saharan Africa remains the least connected region in the world. This is why our digital investment with Africa is growing year by year, from submarine cables to terrestrial fibre, from 5G to data centres. So, the whole digital infrastructure menu. Today we are announcing a groundbreaking new project for East Africa. Global Gateway is supporting the Blue Raman undersea cable. This cable is a major new data connection that connects India via the Gulf and Djibouti to Europe. Now, together with Italy, we will finance an extension of Blue Raman from its African hub in Djibouti to Somalia, Kenya and Tanzania. This will connect East Africa to huge digital markets. It is a whole world of new opportunities, for Africa, for Europe and beyond.

My third example of Global Gateway at work has to do with sustainable value chains in agriculture. 300 million Africans work in farming. But because of extreme weather, crop yields in small African farms are falling by 3% every year.  We must turn the tide. Today, we are signing a new financing agreement called TERRA. We are bringing together public and private investment from Europe, to support farmers in Africa to adapt to climate change. For instance, we will focus on the coffee value chain. We will invest in a mix of traditional and high-tech solutions. From growing coffee in the shade of trees, to planting new coffee varieties. Crops will become more resistant to heat or heavy rain, while avoiding deforestation. This is a clear case of mutual interest. Millions of Africans rely on coffee exports for their livelihoods. But many jobs depend on coffee imports also here in Europe. Including here in Italy, that is home to the best espresso in the world. So, this is a smart investment for jobs on both sides of the Mediterranean. And our partnership delivers for Africans and Europeans alike.

To conclude: Global Gateway and the Mattei Plan were born to be collective endeavours. They exist to tackle common challenges. And they aim to seize opportunities that serve everyone involved. This can only be achieved through constant dialogue with the private sector, and most importantly with you, our African friends. So, I look forward to hearing your ideas today. How can we improve our projects? Where can we expand our cooperation? Because the untapped potential of our partnership is great, and Europe is ready to invest. Especially in these times of global uncertainty, you can count on Europe. Thank you very much, and I look forward to our discussion.