• Meetings in Abu Dhabi ‘went really well,’ Giorgia Meloni tells briefing attended by Arab News
• Agreements signed on strategic partnership, climate change, energy

Francesco Bongarra

ROME: There are “no limits to what we can do together with the UAE,” Italy’s prime minister said on Saturday during a press briefing attended by Arab News.

“Our cooperation can and will be reinforced,” added Giorgia Meloni, who was received at the presidential palace in Abu Dhabi by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan.

She said all the meetings she had in Abu Dhabi “went really well, even beyond my positive initial expectations.”

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Claudio Descalzi, CEO of energy company Eni, were part of the Italian delegation.

Energy and environmental sustainability, sustainable economic growth, stability in Libya, social unrest in Tunisia and the war in Ukraine were among the main issues discussed.

A source in the Italian prime minister’s office told Arab News that “so many points were found in common,” and that “Meloni believes the UAE can play a huge diplomatic role on those issues.”

Tajani and his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan signed a strategic partnership agreement.

A declaration on enhanced cooperation in the context of this year’s UN Climate Change Conference, which will be hosted by the UAE, was signed by Tajani and Sultan Ahmed Al-Jaber, Emirati minister of industry and advanced technology, and president-designate of the conference.

A cooperation agreement was signed between Eni and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Co.