Relationship dossier
Italy
Mauritania
Relationship assessment
Growing Italy–Mauritania cooperation on development, migration and energy
Italy toward Mauritania
+35Italy has engaged Mauritania as a partner under its Mattei Plan and pursued cooperation on development, migration management and energy. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s January 2024 visit to Mauritania was a concrete instance of high-level engagement.
Mauritania toward Italy
+30Mauritania has engaged the Italian government in discussions on development, migration management and energy cooperation, including during Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s January 2024 visit. The scale and implementation of Mauritanian commitments are unclear.
Overall relationship
+35The relationship has a cooperative framework spanning development, migration and energy, reinforced by Italy’s engagement with Mauritania under the Mattei Plan and high-level government contact. The breadth and durability of practical cooperation are difficult to gauge from these arrangements alone.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Italy and Mauritania have developed cooperation on development, migration management and energy, including through Italy’s Mattei Plan and high-level engagement. Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited Mauritania in January 2024, when the governments discussed closer cooperation. The relationship appears cooperative, though the scale and implementation of specific bilateral commitments are not clear.
Key developments
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited Mauritania and discussed closer bilateral cooperation, including development, migration and energy.
Major uncertainties
- The scope and implementation of bilateral development and migration commitments are unclear.
- The extent of cooperation on energy projects remains uncertain.