To boost its supply of energy and make Italy an energy hub for Europe, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni went to Algeria, while Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani visited Egypt.
Meloni arrived in Algiers on Sunday for her first bilateral visit abroad, which coincides with the 30th anniversary of the friendship treaty between Italy and Algeria, signed on 27 January 2003. Following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, Algeria became Italy’s leading supplier of natural gas.
Her visit will last two days, during which several meetings are scheduled to discuss collaborations and agreements on the industry, innovation, start-ups, and micro-enterprises.
Energy, however, will be the focus of the meetings, as the aim is to make progress on the so-called Mattei Plan, which envisages the transformation of Italy, and in particular the south, into an energy hub in the heart of the Mediterranean for the whole of Europe.
Meloni will meet Algerian Prime Minister Aimen Benabderrahmane, Algerian Minister of Energy and Mines Mohamed Arkab and President of the Algerian Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune. Also part of the Italian delegation are Confindustria President Carlo Bonomi and Eni (Ente Nazionale Idrocarburi – National Hydrocarbons Board) CEO Claudio Descalzi.
At the same time, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani (Forza Italia/Epp) is in Egypt as part of a three-capital tour of North Africa and the Middle East that aims to promote the stabilisation of Libya, a country rich in oil and gas and also the main transit point for migrants arriving illegally in Italy. Cairo is the third stop on the tour, after Tunis and Istanbul.
Tajani said that Italy aspires to play a leading role in mediating between the Libyan parties to facilitate the holding of regular elections and thus the stabilisation of the country. He also stressed the importance of Egypt’s role “for the stability of the whole area”. The minister was received by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and is scheduled to hold talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.
“Energy security, economic cooperation and stability in the Mediterranean, especially in Libya, also to combat irregular immigration”, were the key issues highlighted.
“Egypt and Italy are pivotal countries in the Mediterranean region. Egypt is proud of its extensive and distinct historical relations with Italy at governmental and popular levels”, the official spokesman of the Egyptian presidency, Bassam Rady, Egypt’s next ambassador to Rome, wrote in a tweet.
“Egypt looks forward to developing bilateral relations with Italy, working with it within the framework of the solid partnership that unites the two countries and on broader horizons of fruitful cooperation in all fields and in ways consistent with the ancient history of the two countries and their great civilisation, for the benefit of the two friendly peoples and the whole of humanity”, Rady told Ansa.
(Federica Pascale | EURACTIV.it)
Source: euractiv.com
