La convenzione 2005 dell’UNESCO come quadro strategico e sinergico per strutturare le azioni del Piano Mattei

Abstract

Since ancient times, Italy has served as a cultural bridge between Europe and Africa, generating commercial exchanges and cultural relations that have profoundly shaped both continents. This contribution examines the role that culture and artistic expressions can play in current cooperation policies between Italy and Africa, particularly within the framework of the Mattei Plan, launched in November 2023 as a new instrument of equitable partnership for sustainable development. Through an analysis of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions – celebrating its twentieth anniversary in 2025 – the article proposes an integrated approach that recognizes cultural creativity as playing a central role as a driving sector of sustainable development (Articles 6 and 7 of the Convention, in particular), alongside its strategic transversal function in programmes of economic, social, human and environmental sustainable development. Articles 13 and 14 of the Convention offer in this regard concrete operational tools for incorporating the cultural dimension in traditionally technical sectors such as infrastructure, health and education, while promoting the mobility of artists and cultural operators. The article argues that this approach can transform cooperation from a purely project-based logic to a holistic vision, strengthening local ownership of programmes and their legitimacy among communities on both continents. The 2005 UNESCO Convention thus emerges as a possible strategic compass for guiding new routes of fair and solidarity-based cultural collaboration between Africa and Europe.