DAR ES SALAAM (TANZANIA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – During the Africa Head of State Energy Summit, held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Italy confirmed its support for the “Mission 300” programme. It is an initiative of the World Bank and the African Development Bank that aims to guarantee access to clean electricity to 300 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.
“We adhere to this multilateral instrument,” explained the Undersecretary for the Environment and Energy Security, Claudio Barbaro, speaking on behalf of the Italian Government at the Summit, “because we are convinced of its suitability to guarantee large-scale impact, in favour of African nations. We now expect that the first financing proposals can be approved within the year, in close coordination with the World Bank and governments, as part of Italy’s efforts and commitment to the Mattei Plan”.
Italy has already activated permanent discussions with the World Bank to examine the best opportunities for joint intervention, starting with projects in the Republic of Congo, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Malawi, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.
“These new initiatives are strengthened by the GRANT resources that the Ministry of the Environment already provides to specific leveraging tools of the World Bank and the African Development Bank. These invaluable resources, allocated within a strategy, allow the design of large-scale operations that also involve private individuals. For Italy, in fact, as Prime Minister Meloni indicated, Africa is a priority in which it is possible to generate the conditions for a proper, thriving and resilient economy. On the topic of energy transition, in particular, MASE supports and has supported: the Energy Sector Management Assistance programme, the programme for managing the energy sector with a 10 million euro donation; the Clean Energy Access Programme which promotes the renewable energy market, with a 40 million dollar donation; the Sustainable Energy Fund for Africa, which supports projects on renewable energy, energy efficiency and access to the grid by promoting universal access to energy in Africa, with a contribution of 12 million euros as a gift and in the refinancing phase; the Rome Process Financing Facility with the African Development Bank, where 27 million euros out of the 47 million euros are insured by Italy as a donation and 90 million euros granted by the Italian Climate Fund through the Mattei Plan”. The Summit in Dar es Salaam, which was also attended by Alessandro Guerri, the Director General of the International Affairs Department of MASE, was also an opportunity to remember that Tanzania has been indicated among the new Nations for the implementation of the Mattei Plan for Africa.
Undersecretary Barbaro and Ambassador Giuseppe Coppola expressed appreciation for the commitment of the Tanzanian Government to promote access to electricity, especially in rural areas, and for the international commitment of President Samia Suluhu Hassan in promoting in particular “clean cooking”, with benefits from an environmental and health point of view.
(ITALPRESS).
-Photo: Mase press office-
