ROME: The foreign ministers of Italy and the UAE discussed cooperation in various fields, including economic, commercial and cultural, on the occasion of the fourth strategic dialogue between the two countries in Abu Dhabi.
The meeting was chaired by Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, Emirati minister of foreign affairs and international cooperation, and his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio.
The strategic dialogue was attended by Emirati Minister of State Ahmed Ali Al-Sayegh and senior officials from both sides.
Sources at the Italian Foreign Ministry told Arab News that the meeting was “intense and very constructive,” and the two sides discussed the latest developments in the region, with a particular focus on Libya and Iran.
Various regional and international issues of common interest were discussed, including developments in the eastern Mediterranean and efforts to combat the coronavirus pandemic, the sources said.
Al-Nahyan and Di Maio stressed the importance of their countries’ strategic dialogue in strengthening bilateral relations and cooperation in all sectors to achieve common interests.
Di Maio praised the “excellent level of bilateral relations between the UAE and Italy, and the continuous development of joint cooperation between the two nations.”
He expressed his wish that the relationship will “continue in a prosperous and useful way, in the interest of both countries and of the entire Euro-Med area.”
Di Maio also had talks with Nahyan bin Mubarak Al-Nahyan, minister of tolerance and general commissioner of Expo 2020 Dubai, as well as Economy Minister Abdallah bin Touq Al-Marri.
Di Maio then met representatives of the Italian business and scientific community in the UAE, and visited the expo site.
