Good evening everyone. I wish to thank the President of the Republic for this long discussion, which undoubtedly testifies to the long-standing friendship between our two nations, and also shows the level of interest in talking with a person of such great experience.

We spoke about our bilateral relations, our cooperation, and about the international scenario; it was undoubtedly one of the most interesting meetings I’ve had over the last year of government.

With regard to cooperation between Italy and Congo, our cooperation is clearly very strong. Italy is Congo’s second largest European trading partner and Italian businesses have a structured and long-standing presence in Congo. The President of the Republic and I both agree on what real cooperation between two nations is: cooperation has nothing to do with a paternalistic approach and nothing to do with a predatory approach that at times we have seen disguised as cooperation. 

I believe that the cooperation model Italy is trying to convey and develop is precisely the kind of cooperation we have done with Congo: Italian companies have invested here, of course considering the issue of the work they have to do, but also focusing on the growth of the land in which they operate.

We have recently carried out trade deals with Eni here to import liquefied natural gas the coming winter, but we are only talking about exports to Italy of the excess gas that is not needed by the local population.

The primary objective is therefore to guarantee growth for the people where investments are made, because Africa is a rich continent that needs support to extract and make the most of the many resources it has.

Talking again about Eni, although I could use other Italian companies as an example, this company is, at the same time, carrying out social activities in Hinda: I am thinking in particular of the development of rural towns with regard to healthcare, education, access to water, and agriculture, or the Enrico Mattei school in Pointe-Noire, which focuses on education and training. This is precisely the partnership model we want to strengthen and which, in our view, can be extended to many other sectors. This evening we spoke about many of those sectors, and we would like to try to also ‘export’ this to other African nations and in the European Union too to some extent: a peer-to-peer cooperation model, a cooperation model that enables us to link our destinies to grow together.

Energy is a key element of this cooperation, today bringing together two interests: the needs of Europe, which is in difficulty regarding energy resources, and the possibility for Africa to produce those energy resources. It is no longer about cooperation on a transitional basis; it is about creating long-standing and mutually beneficial ties between our destinies.

Beyond our bilateral work, this cooperation clearly also concerns the major crises we are facing.

We spoke with the President of the Republic about the environment, and the President talked to us about the upcoming ‘Summit of the three basins of biodiversity ecosystems and tropical forests’, to be held in Brazzaville at the end of this month. I assured him that high-level representatives of the Italian Government will be present at this – what I consider to be very intelligent – initiative.
Climate change is one of the major challenges we are facing, and it must be tackled seriously: not with an ideological approach but rather with the seriousness to defend the environment with people inside, so ensuring social and economic sustainability together with environmental sustainability. It is no coincidence that Italy has chosen to allocate 70% of its Climate Fund, worth approximately EUR 3 billion, to the African continent, and that it has decided to link this investment to what we are calling the ‘Mattei Plan for Africa’ (Enrico Mattei was the founder of Eni), which describes the type of cooperation that Congo has shown so well in its relationship with Italy and that we would like to expand as much as possible.

We spoke about the international crisis, we spoke about the fight against terrorism, which is something that touches us all, across the board. I hope to have an opportunity to talk with the President of the Republic again soon. I hope that will be in Rome, when we hold the Rome summit on Africa to present our project for cooperation with the African continent.

Thank you.

[Courtesy translation]