“Collective efforts, including the signing of a memorandum of understanding by Angola, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), European Union (EU), United States, Italy, African Development Bank, and African Finance Corporation, ensure that the Corridor is positioned as a high-impact sustainable development vector,” reads a joint statement released at the summit’s conclusion by the European Commission, led by Ursula von der Leyen, and the office of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
During her summit intervention, Von der Leyen highlighted the Lobito Corridor as the “best practical example” of the benefits of enhanced cooperation and partnership between Europe and Africa. This 1,300-kilometer railway project, connecting Angola and Zambia through the DRC and creating a regional logistics hub for minerals and agricultural products, was also emphasized in the joint statement from Brussels and Rome and in leaders’ final press statements.
“The Lobito Corridor is recognized as a transformational regional project. Beyond a rail project, it is a broader economic corridor linking resource-rich, landlocked Southern African regions to global markets, including Europe,” states the joint declaration.
Leaders at the Rome summit “reaffirmed their intention to accelerate investments in interconnected sectors, including transport infrastructure, energy systems, agricultural value chains, and trade facilitation.”
Welcoming what they describe as “growing alignment between the Global Gateway and the Mattei Plan”—cooperation strategies promoted by the EU and Italy with Africa—Von der Leyen and Meloni highlighted the importance of “enhanced coordination with international financial institutions.”
Meanwhile, “leaders acknowledged the essential role of the private sector in realizing the next phase of the [Lobito] Corridor, stressing the importance of scalable, climate-aligned, and commercially viable investments.”
In the final press conference, without questions and attended by Meloni, Von der Leyen, and the African Union Commission Chair, Ali Youssouf—despite the announced participation of Angolan President João Lourenço, who was represented by Foreign Minister Téte António—the Italian Prime Minister stressed that the success of the Lobito Corridor initiative, “an ambitious and surely complex challenge,” depends not only on political will but also on “the ability to engage the private sector.”
“The challenge for us is for Africa to grow and thrive from its wealth,” declared Meloni, who promoted the Mattei Plan to limit African immigration by boosting the continent’s economy, hoping this investment strategy helps address “the causes that lead so many young people to pay criminal organizations to undertake dangerous journeys in search of a better life, often not supported by [European] societies.”
In his address, the African Union Commission Chair assured that the member countries of this organization “truly appreciate this constructive and results-oriented relationship,” noting that the Mattei Plan and the Global Gateway initiative, a 150 billion euro investment package launched in 2022 by the EU, “represent a new level of commitment, and their alignment with the African Union agenda is of utmost importance.”
“Promoting trade corridors, like the Lobito Corridor, will allow our member countries to boost intra-African trade,” he added, noting that the community strategy Global Gateway identified 11 other corridors that may be developed.
“This will certainly change our populations’ livelihoods and lift millions out of poverty,” he stressed.
Expressing hopes that current geopolitical tensions “won’t distract from these critically important partnerships or their outlined goals,” Ali Youssof reiterated that this is the path forward: “We are proud to say here today, from Rome, that we are now on track for a truly fair and equitable partnership between Africa and Europe.”
The total value of shared commitments between the EU and Italy towards the African continent announced at today’s summit, during which several sectoral agreements were signed, amounts to 1.2 billion euros.
The joint declaration issued by Rome and Brussels announced that “leaders agreed to review the strategic partnership’s progress within the framework of the EU’s Global Gateway strategy and the Mattei Plan for Africa at the Global Gateway Forum on October 9 and 10, 2025, in Brussels.”
