“Eritrea is a priority country for the Mattei Plan”
“President Afwerki is fully aware of the strategic value of the Mattei Plan and the role that Italy can assume as a bridge between Europe and Africa. Together, we can build a common future in safety . " This is what the Minister of Business and Made in Italy, Adolfo Urso , reported at the end of his long meeting in Asmara with the Eritrean president Isaias Afwerki .
The summit between Urso and Afwerki was also attended by the Eritrean Foreign Minister, Osman Saleh Mohammed, the Minister of Trade and Industry, Nesredin Bekit, the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications, Woldemichael Abraha, the Minister of Health, Saleh Meky and the Commissioner for Culture and Sport, Zemede Tecle Woldatetios. The highest leaders of the Eritrean state were therefore present : an unusual formula, which underlines the great significance that President Afwerki intended to recognize in the first mission of a minister of the Meloni government in his country.
“We had perceived, during the meetings at the beginning of the year in Rome, that there was a great desire for Italy on the Eritrean side” added Urso. “An important new phase can now be opened, with the decisive contribution of our companies in primary sectors for the development of this priority country for the Mattei Plan. This first meeting confirms that we are on the right path."
In his mission to Rome last January, the Eritrean President had in fact taken the opportunity of the Italy-Africa summit to meet bilaterally with the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, as well as several ministers of the Italian Government, including Urso himself. The official visit to Eritrea by the Minister of Business and Made in Italy, on behalf of the President of the Council of Ministers, is the first significant follow-up to what has emerged so far, to fully grasp the new phase that has opened.
Minister Urso's mission will continue tomorrow and Wednesday, in the presence of a delegation of large Italian companies , with further meetings aimed at the sectors identified by the two governments for the economic, industrial and commercial development of Eritrea.
