The Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Maria Tripodi, co-chaired bilateral political consultations today in Manama with her counterpart, Bahrain’s Undersecretary for Political Affairs, Khaled Yousef Al-Jalahma.
The evolution of the crisis in Gaza, regional scenarios, and the implementation of economic cooperation and trade relations were on top of the agenda. Bahrain is an important partner for Italy, with trade growing by 17% in the first half of 2025 and a strategic market that could become even more central thanks to the National Export Plan promoted by Minister Tajani.
On the sidelines of consultations, the Undersecretary met with the Minister of Culture, Sheikh Khalifa bin Ahmed bin Abdulla Al Khalifa, President of the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities. The deep friendship between the two countries is also reflected in cultural collaboration, and Undersecretary Tripodi highlighted that, among the various cultural cooperation measures, since 2023 the Italian Government has included Bahrain among the beneficiary countries of the Italian language scholarship programme, an initiative to further promote knowledge exchange and profitable economic relations.
The Undersecretary’s mission follows the recent State visit to Rome paid by Prime Minister and Crown Prince Salman, during which the Joint Declaration on strengthening bilateral partnership and the Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation and investment were adopted with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.