31 July 2024 | by Claudia Segre
‘Starting again from forests is possible and South-South cooperation is a virtuous formula for a historical friendship that binds Italy to Congo and Angol’: this is what the Congolese ambassador to Italy said at the recent international conference on forests and the Mattei Plan’.
It was of great impact what emerged from the international congress promoted by the Congo Embassy in Italy and entitled ‘The Opportunity of the Forest of the Republic of Congo for the Development of the Mattei Plan’. A congress that aimed to represent the opportunities for international cooperation in a territorial reality that has yet to be discovered and that occupies two thirds of the country’s surface area. It is no coincidence that Congo has one of the lowest population densities in Africa, although similar to its neighbouring countries it has a young population, half of which is under the age of 18. A country of limited size but whose GDP is anchored to the oil sector, which accounts for 80% of its exports, being the third largest producer in the sub-Saharan area. And a flourishing agriculture, also thanks to the intensive use of female labour, not to mention a wealth of mineral resources that are flourishing and not fully exploited.
The economic situation has benefited from high oil prices, but not sufficiently, financing internal policies aimed at a strong drive to reduce inequalities between rural and urban areas as well as social differences that remain for women, youth and the disabled in terms of access to electricity, clean water, education and basic services. Despite an active commitment by President Nguesso’s government, youth unemployment still remains one of the biggest challenges, remaining above 40 per cent.
This is why the visit of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to China, Africa’s first creditor in the world, as well as Africa’s first trading partner, becomes an important ground for comparison for our country, given the difference between China’s penetration plans in Africa with its own personnel relocated there and the Mattei Plan, worth more than EUR 5.5 billion, and sees staff training plans aimed precisely at combating youth unemployment by creating solid skills in innovative technologies applied to agriculture and at triggering the preconditions for a circular economy in the territories that, from the primary sector to the service sector, reinforces the strategic component of using land and mineral resources in a forward-looking and possibly sustainable way.
Congo: the importance of youth training and sustainability
Professor Laura Mazza, Institutional Relations Representative for the Republic of Congo and the Mattei Plan countries, emphasised that ‘widespread training plans dedicated to young people, the green economy and sustainability will be crucial in creating a competent workforce capable of ensuring the success of the projects: capable of making an important contribution to the country’s long-term development. The partnership will be the bearer of development and peace for all the countries involved, but not only’.
Congo and Italy allied in the use of satellites to monitor climate change
Among the authoritative speakers, the speech by General Luca Baione, of the Permanent World Meteorological Observatory and Head of the Military Aviation and Meteorology Office, was noteworthy. He offered a far-sighted look at the alliance between Italy and Congo for the use of satellites and the most advanced monitoring techniques on the effects of climate change and the opportunities for optimal use of uncultivated savannah land. From the monitoring of greenhouse gases to the ‘early warning’ system on flora and water, to research on the preservation of mountain basins, there are many points of connection on which Italy can be useful to the Congolese government in preserving Congo’s forest basin, which is the second largest CO2-absorbing area after the Amazon.
Forests and oceans in fact represent the most important natural storage systems for Co2 with a positive differential of about one third of the total emissions emitted in a year for our planet, thus avoiding its accumulation in the atmosphere.
The role of the African Development Bank
Alongside Italy is the strong partnership with the African Development Bank, which led the talks in Rome during the Summit in January and May, and implemented no less than 11 projects worth over USD 400 million in important sectors such as telecommunications, postal services and electronics, including the construction of a data centre in the capital Brazzaville. The particularity of the project lies in the implementation of a fibre-optic network that will increase connections between the country, Cameroon and the Central African Republic, and in the fact that it will allow Congo to be the first country to manage its digital sovereignty autonomously, without having to have sensitive data transited by servers outside the country’s borders, thereby favouring computer piracy and cybersecurity risks, the safeguarding of which is a priority for the government.
This meeting, which will be followed by other similar in-depth meetings with the 13 countries, sent a clear message to the representatives of the participating countries, summarised by the Congolese Ambassador as follows: ‘Starting again from the forests is possible, and ‘South-South’ cooperation is a virtuous formula for a historical friendship that links Congo to Italy, as well as Angola. The young Congolese and all of Africa want to make their voices heard because the aspiration for development is strong, just as in the European spirit of international cooperation’.
On the other hand, the preservation of biodiversity, which has recently become part of the Italian Constitution, is a vital area for Congo, and not only for the 600 animal species that populate the Congo forest, but for all humanity. Africa opens its arms to the opportunities offered by the Italian and European commitment also to redeem populations that are heavily affected by climate disruption and that aspire to strengthen their economies by moving away from the subsidising logics of the past, but working hard on the social and environmental impact of the Projects at the centre of this rediscovered alliance, far from certain territorial and geopolitical aims that have always characterised the pervasive action of Russia and China on African territories.
