BlackRock, Microsoft CEOs to Gather at G-7 Summit in Italy

(Bloomberg) — The chief executives of Microsoft Corp. and BlackRock Inc. will join Group of Seven leaders congregating at a summit in Italy this week to support Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s push to invest in developing countries.

Co-hosted by Meloni and US President Joe Biden, the invitees will include Microsoft’s Satya Nadella and BlackRock’s Larry Fink as well as heads of Italian energy companies Claudio Descalzi of ENI SpA and Enel SpA’s Flavio Cattaneo, according to three people familiar with the guest list who asked not to be named when discussing private matters of scheduling.

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Microsoft, BlackRock and Enel declined to comment. ENI didn’t immediately return requests for comment.

As part of a strategy to stem the arrival of migrants into Italian waters from Africa, Meloni has been pushing a development plan for the continent and will unveil projects on food, climate and energy security at the summit, Bloomberg News recently reported.

The plan includes the development of new financial instruments to help bolster growth on the continent, an initiative for energy, and a separate one on food that will promote specific agricultural projects in sectors such as coffee.

Collectively, G-7 members have been working to ramp up the outreach to the Global South to counter the diplomatic inroads made by China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

(Adds company decline to comment. An earlier version corrected entity to Microsoft Corp. from Inc.)

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