The natural gas fields discovered off Mozambique represent a huge opportunity for the African country's development, said Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni during a visit to the head of Italian energy group Eni.

Speaking after a meeting with President Filipe Nyusi, Meloni said that state-controlled Eni is the best example of economic cooperation between Italy and Mozambique.

"We agree with the President of Mozambique that the fields discovered off the north coast of Mozambique are a huge opportunity for the development of this nation and also to strengthen our relationship," said Meloni as quoted by Reuters.

The gas field located in Mozambique's offshore Rovuma basin, called the Coral field, is estimated to contain 500 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Eni is the operator of the Coral South floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, which has turned the impoverished country into a global LNG producer and exporter since November.

The Italian group jointly owns more than two thirds of the project, along with Exxon Mobil and China's CNPC.

Portuguese energy company Galp GALP.LS, Korean Gas Corp. and Mozambican state oil company ENH are the minority partners with 10% each.

According to sources quoted by Reuters, Eni expects to reach a final investment decision on a second floating LNG project to exploit the Coral field by the end of June next year.

Meloni also said that 70% of Italy's climate fund, or around 3 billion euros (3.16 billion dollars), will be set aside for Africa.

"Europe has an energy supply problem, while Africa is potentially a major energy producer. If we put the two together, we can build a different future of cooperation between our continents in terms of energy, but... also in terms of raw materials," said the Prime Minister.

It should be noted that Italy will host an Italy-Africa conference early next year, Meloni said, adding that the government will present its new cooperation strategy for the continent during the conference.