ROME, June 20, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni on Friday will host European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen in Rome for a summit aimed at boosting African economies in a bid to curb illegal migration to the bloc.

Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy party has prioritised cutting irregular immigration, has launched a 5.5-billion-euro ($6.3-billion) plan targeting 14 countries including Ethiopia, Ivory Coast and Senegal to support industries from energy to health care.

Irregular border crossings detected into the European Union stood at 239,000 last year, down 38 percent from an almost 10-year peak in 2023, according to European border agency Frontex.

Meloni's plan aims to strengthen trade relations between Italy and African nations in the energy sector particularly, since the Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced Rome to seek new supplies of oil and gas.

Rome also wants a stake in financing a railway line between Zambia and Angola, and is planning a 65-million-euro investment in biofuel production in Kenya.

Kenyan President William Ruto has praised the plan as "ambitious", but noted "that investment alone is not enough" and African economies continue to be burdened by debt.

African Union chief Moussa Faki Mahamat has also warned that the continent "cannot rely solely on promises that are often broken".

Experts say that Italy has "promised too much" by implying that these investments could reduce the number of migrants by creating jobs and growth.

"The funding that Italy can provide is not at the right scale," Giovanni Carbone, head of the University of Milan's Africa programme, told AFP.

The plan serves to benefit the interests of "large companies in the Italian fossil fuel industry", said Simone Ogno from the NGO ReCommon.

Major Italian companies are already involved in the plan, including oil giant Eni, electricity carrier Terna and agro-industrial group Bonifiche Ferraresi.

Undocumented migration via the Central Mediterranean route -- between North Africa and Italy -- saw around 67,000 migrant arrivals in 2024, Frontex said, down 59 percent from the year prior.