Why Italy Is Quietly Positioning Itself in the Gulf of Guinea

Italy's growing defence engagement with Ghana, underscored by Defence Attaché Colonel Antonio Di Biaso's recent visit and Commodore Abdul's outline of cooperation areas oceanography, meteorology, hydrographic surveying, IT and cybersecurity is not a courtesy call.

It builds on a partnership formalized when Ghana and Italy signed a memorandum of understanding on defense and security cooperation on 28 November 2019, during a visit by then-Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to President Nana Akufo-Addo.

A relationship that keeps compounding
This is not an isolated overture.
Italian naval diplomats have made repeated calls on Ghana's naval command in recent years: Ambassador Daniela d'Orlandi visited the Flag Officer Commanding of the Eastern Naval Command in March 2024, describing Ghana as a reliable security ally at both strategic and operational levels.

More recently, an Italian naval commander underlined that Italy and the EU support maritime security across the entire Gulf of Guinea, with new joint exercises focused on first-aid training and naval teamwork agreed for 2025.

Ambassador Laura Ranalli also called on Ghana's Chief of Naval Staff in June 2025, flagging cooperation areas including digitalization alongside education, agriculture, and health infrastructure.

Why the stakes are real for Rome
Italy's energy giant Eni has deep skin in this game. Eni's OCTP offshore project represents a $7.9 billion investment the single largest ever made in Ghana producing gas from the Sankofa field expected to supply Ghana for at least 15 years, enough to convert half the country's power generation to gas. Protecting that asset, and the shipping lanes serving it, gives Rome a direct commercial stake in Gulf of Guinea security, not merely a diplomatic one.

The threat picture is improving, but unevenly

The urgency is real even if the numbers have moved in the right direction. The IMB recorded 116 piracy incidents worldwide in 2024, and international naval deployments combined with regional cooperation helped cut Gulf of Guinea incidents from 81 in 2020 to just 18 in 2024.

But 2024 also saw a sharp rise in seafarers taken hostage 126 cases, up from 73 the year before a reminder that hijackings have become rarer even as crews remain vulnerable once boarded.

Italy isn't the only suitor
Ghana is clearly diversifying rather than picking a single patron. Turkey's Defence Attaché, Colonel Ahmet Pakis, also visited Ghana's naval chief in June 2025 to discuss expanding defence collaboration around the same window as Italy's own outreach.

That competitive backdrop is exactly why hydrographic surveying, cybersecurity and maritime domain awareness training carry strategic weight beyond their technical description: they are the currency by which external powers earn lasting access and goodwill with Ghana's navy.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,

International Conflict Management and Peacebuilding. (USIP)

[email protected]
+233555275880

Sources
Ghana Presidency "Ghana, Italy Sign MoU On Defense Co-Operation" (Nov 2019)

Ghana Navy Online "Italian Ambassador to Ghana Calls on FOC ENC" (Mar 2024)

ANSA "Navy ship Commander Bettica lands in Ghana" (Jun 2025)

Military Africa roundup of Ghana Navy diplomatic engagements (Jun 2025)

Eni fact sheet OCTP Ghana project figures

Natural Gas World "Eni Starts Up Gas from Ghana's OCTP"

Cyprus Shipping News / IMB 2024 global piracy report summary