Good afternoon. Thank you, Prime Minister Meloni, dear Giorgia, for having brought us together once again, in the beautiful setting of the Eternal City. A year and a half has passed since the launch of the Mattei Plan. And I think together with our African partners, we have achieved so much. Global Gateway and the Mattei Plan share the same vision of our partnership with Africa. This vision is driven by investments in infrastructure, in the economy, and most importantly in people. Because our interests align in many ways. And, of course, experience shows that together we are bigger than the sum of our parts. It is a true win-win partnership. Built on mutual respect and on shared prosperity.
We have just witnessed the conclusion of 5 very important agreements, bringing over 1.2 billion EUR in investments and guarantees to Africa. They illustrate how we turn political will and common vision into very concrete decisions and most importantly reality on the ground. This is our Global Gateway investment program in action together with the Mattei Plan. Global Gateway means: concrete investments in sustainable growth and in quality jobs, that makes the turnaround. All along the value chain, all across Africa. In terms of our cooperation, we are transparent; we mobilize together the potential of Africa's massive renewable energy and the decarbonisation of economic growth. We mobilize on transport, that is: building ports, railways, roads and multimodal connections. We mobilize on digital with submarine cables, terrestrial optical fibre, but also 5G and data centres. We mobilize on value chains, that create added value into industrialisation and sustainable jobs in Africa. And, of course, we mobilize on health products such as medicines, vaccines, produced in African, for Africa. We are doing this by bringing private capital and know-how from Europe to Africa. This is supported by Team Europe and most importantly the international financial institutions. These signatures today testify how far we have come. And they charter the way forward. Let me give you a few examples.
First, the Lobito corridor – this railway project is much more than just infrastructure. We are indeed investing in railway to connect Lobito to the DRC and to Zambia. But we see it as a true economic corridor, that allows to unlock the huge potential of Angola, DRC and Zambia. That is why we invest in roads, in agricultural supply chains, in logistics centres, and on top promote eco-tourism along the corridor. And as I have said, most importantly we invest in people through vocational training. We have just signed three financing agreements with Angola worth EUR 77 million in grants. All in all, the total EU contribution across the corridor comes close to EUR 1 billion.
My second point is on agriculture. Today, we have also signed an EU guarantee of EUR 110 million, with Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. We all know that Africa's potential to produce food is enormous. Under Global Gateway, we are de-risking the investments that are needed. So we are creating a conducive environment. And this accelerates the development of sustainable agrifood production and value chains, respectful of nature and climate, generating jobs for millions of people and families, and decreasing dependencies on import. So, working on self-sufficient situations. The agreement signed today is testimony to it.
My third point, renewable energy. Together with President Ramaphosa of South Africa, I launched at the G20 Summit last year a global campaign on "Scaling up Renewables in Africa". As we all know, Africa has a huge potential in renewable energy. Resources like wind, sun and geothermal in abundance. But the infrastructure to turn this into energy and to connect people to have access to energy is missing. 600 million people in Africa have no access to electricity. And therefore, our global campaign on "Scaling up Renewables in Africa", together with Mission 300 with the World Bank and the Africa Development Bank, we are investing multiple billions. And we just signed – again with Cassa Deposit e Prestiti - a significant contribution to our common efforts.
Fourth, digital connectivity. Data has become the oxygen of our economies. Under Global Gateway, we are supporting the Blue Raman undersea cable. That cable connects India via the Gulf and Djibouti to Europe. We do this together with an Italian telecom company. With our announcement today, we help to extend this cable. And we will create landing points along the coast of East Africa, down to Tanzania. This unlocks access for East Africa to data that will empower their people and empower its economies.
My last point is on Artificial Intelligence. It is a groundbreaking technology as we all know, with incredible, life-changing potential. But there is a danger that it will grow the digital divide between those who master it and those who do not. Now, Europe is working with partners, so that everyone can take part in the Artificial Intelligence revolution, it is about access. This is why Italy, and the Commission have just signed an agreement for the EU to join the AI Hub for Sustainable Development. It is a vital initiative, led by Italy, the G7 and the United Nations. This initiative has a very strong focus on Africa. We are committed to support growing skills among young African scientists and entrepreneurs. We are empowering them with computing capacity. And, of course, we are open to the cooperation with our AI factories and soon Gigafactories. So, to give young start-ups the possibility to test and train their models on our AI factories.
Finally: Today, we have also further strengthened our partnerships with countries along the migration routes. As we work on our common investment agenda under Global Gateway, Africa needs its talent, its skills, its entrepreneurs and its labour force. Our migration partnerships therefore cover not only migration in itself, but a wide range of issues related to economic development and most importantly the skilling and up-skilling of people. They are an important element of our comprehensive approach to managing migration. And we see the results. Last year, figures for illegal border crossings were down by 38 %. This positive trend has continued in the past months, with an overall 21 % reduction since the start of the year. Still, thousands of lives are lost each year at the hands of smugglers and traffickers, while these criminals continue to generate billions in profits. So we must keep the fight against smuggling high on the agenda, as we agreed at the G7 leaders' summit just a few days ago. That is why it features as a key element on our common agenda with African partners. Because the solution to this challenge lies in prosperity in Africa, in close operational cooperation and in people who are sharing the prosperity and the advancements at home. We need to provide real alternatives to young people seeking a better future.
Meetings like the one we have today allow us to make concrete progress on our common agenda of shared prosperity and security. On 9 and 10 October, we will gather again in Brussels, at the Global Gateway Forum. And at the end of November, we will meet in Luanda at the Africa-Europe Summit.
So I am very much looking forward to continuing our work together, for the EU and for Africa.
