Italy-Libya agreement: Mattei Plan relaunches fishing and bilateral relations – A message of great openness was sent yesterday by the Italian government to Libya regarding the resumption of economic and diplomatic relations, thanks to the visit of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Tripoli, on the occasion of the Economic Forum between Libya and Italy.
After years of tensions due mainly to the phenomenon of uncontrolled migration flows and in some ways also to the well-known events concerning the limits of territorial waters, which in fact prevent fishing by our vessels, a resumption of dialogue and a strengthening of economic exchange relations now appears possible between the two countries, also favoured by the adoption of the ‘Mattei Plan for Africa,’ strongly desired by Meloni. Direct flights to Libya will even be restored from Italy in January.
The Mattei Plan for Africa envisages the development of new projects to be shared with African states and therefore also with Libya, including those concerning fishing and aquaculture.
All this reinforces and makes more credible the commitment made by the undersecretary Patrizio La Pietra, on the sidelines of last week’s meeting in Rome with the joint Italian-Libyan delegation, in an attempt, in the near future, to include in the Mattei Plan the project, which has now been concretised in a memorandum of understanding, presented to him by the aforementioned delegation composed of managers of the OP Consorzio Blu Sea del Gambero Rosso di Mazara del Vallo in partnership with a major Libyan multinational, for sustainable fishing in Libyan areas.
In light of President Meloni’s meetings in Tripoli yesterday, this historic agreement in the field of fishing, which has seen the two nations on the brink of very serious diplomatic crises for far too long, seems even more likely.
The hope, moreover, is that there will be an end to direct and unprovoked attacks on the Libyan authorities, which might have made sense in past years, but which today, in the light of potential and vital agreements for our navy, have no reason to be, except in producing tensions that are not really needed.
Italy-Libya Agreement: the Mattei Plan relaunches fishing and bilateral relations
