Sept. 20 (UPI) -- As European nations seek to find new energy solutions in the wake of Russia's war in Ukraine, Italy has turned to Africa, its prime minister, Mario Draghi, said Tuesday, stating his country is willing to connect Europe to the resource-rich continent to lessen its dependency on Kremlin gas.
"The European Union is destined to look further and further south and Italy wants to be a bridge to the southern shore of the Mediterranean, to the entire African continent," he said before the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
Draghi, a former president of the European Central Bank, told the world leaders assembled that in response to the war, Europe and its allies were quick to impose punishing sanctions against the Kremlin, which immediately attempted to divide the union by wielding its gas as a weapon of blackmail.
Since then, Italy has inked agreements with "numerous" African nations including Algeria, Angola and Democratic Republic of Congo that has aided Rome's ability to halve its Russian gas dependency with plans to be completely independent by 2024, he said.
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