One was signed joint declaration by the Minister of Business and Made in Italy with the Minister of Industry and Minerals of the Libyan Government of National Unity as part of the official mission to Tripoli, aimed at economic and industrial collaboration in the energy, critical raw materials and green technology sectors.
The understanding Italy-Libya is part of the implementation of the "Mattei plan for Africa”, a strategic project of diplomacy, development cooperation and investment by Italy aimed at the countries of the African continent, through a series of actions in six priority sectors of intervention:
- Health
- education and training
- agriculture
- water
- the energy
- infrastructure
- The Mattei Plan aims to promote sustainable and long-lasting economic and social development that can prevent the root causes of irregular migration.
The Italy-Libya agreement on energy, critical and "green" raw materials
The agreement, in particular, aims to facilitate direct investments and joint initiatives between companies from the two countries, exploring forms of cooperation within the dual environmental and digital transition, through the exchange of information and knowledge in research, innovation applied to the manufacturing industry and the training of new skills.
That energetic it is the main sector on which efforts have been concentrated. The energy production capacity of Libya, the leading African country for oil reserves and with enormous potential for the development of renewable energy, makes it a strategic interlocutor for the energy security of the Mediterranean and Europe.
At the moment, Italy is Libya's first customer with a value of 7,365 billion euros, ahead of Germany, Spain, France and China: 96,4% of which are hydrocarbons. The crude Libyan is particularly valuable as it is light, sweet (low sulfur content) and refinable at a lower cost. As for the gas, Libya can potentially export over 10 billion cubic meters of gas to Italy per year via the Greenstream, the gas pipeline that connects Sicily to Eni's fields in the North African country, even if gas production is in constant decline.
The synergies envisaged by the agreement also concern the mining sector, with particular attention to critical raw materials. Furthermore, during the bilateral meeting, topics in the steel sector were addressed, in particular the investments of Italian companies in Libya, and on the transfer of skills in digital technology, also through the AI Hub for sustainable development in cooperation with the UNDP , as indicated in the ministerial declaration of the G7 summit of Industry, Technology and Digital ministers held on 14 and 15 March in Verona and Trento.
