On Monday, UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan announced that his country had pumped investments worth $40 billion into Italy, and stressed the continued increase in trade exchange between the two countries.

Giorgia Meloni and Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed

This came during a meeting between Bin Zayed and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, at the Prime Minister’s Office in the capital, Rome, as part of a “state visit” to Italy, according to what was reported by the Emirates News Agency (WAM).

The UAE President explained that the volume of non-oil trade between the two countries reached $14.1 billion during 2024, an increase of 21.2 percent compared to 2023.

He pointed out that the increase in trade exchange will continue through strengthening joint work between the two countries, according to what the agency reported.

He said: "We look forward to the Emirati investment in Italy worth $40 billion that was announced to contribute to achieving development and prosperity for the two countries and their peoples."

Meloni and Bin Zayed participated in the Italian-Emirati Business Forum held in Rome on Monday, according to what was reported by the Italian AKI agency.

“This visit represents an opportunity to confirm that Italy and the United Arab Emirates have decided together to advance their bilateral cooperation to an unprecedented level,” Meloni said, according to AKI.

She added: “Today we have signed more than 40 bilateral agreements, and we do not intend for our work to stop there.”

She expressed “tremendous satisfaction with the tangible will of the United Arab Emirates to invest $40 billion in Italy.”

She concluded by saying, “This investment is, without hesitation, one of the most important and most impressive foreign investments in the history of our nation.”

On Sunday, the President of the Emirates arrived in Italy, on a visit with an unspecified duration and an unannounced agenda.

This is the third visit of the UAE President to Italy since he took office on May 14, 2022, while Meloni has also made 3 visits to the UAE since taking office in October 2022, the most recent of which was about a month ago.

The 6 mutual visits witnessed the holding of 6 summits and meetings between Ibn Zayed and Meloni, the first of which was in Abu Dhabi in March 2023, during which the two countries announced the upgrade of relations to a strategic partnership, according to local Emirati media monitoring, the last of which was today.

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