Saudi Arabia is a key international partner for Italy. It is a country extraordinarily rich in history, culture, and resources, strategically located along the new Cotton Road to India and the Indo-Pacific, and with a population that looks to Italy and its companies with an ever increasing interest. The numbers speak for themselves: the latest annual forecasts predict that Saudi Arabia’s GDP will grow by over 4% by the end of 2025, an estimate that analysts confirm for 2026 as well.
Since 2022 Italy’s exports have increased by almost 20% annually. At the end of 2024, our trade was worth approximately €10 billion. In the energy sector, Saudi Arabia is our sixth-largest oil supplier, but our collaboration in the alternative energy sector is also growing in importance, with interesting potential in the hydrogen sector.
Furthermore, the country is undergoing deep transformation thanks to the “Saudi Vision 2030,” an ambitious economic modernization plan that encompasses many areas, including energy, infrastructure, innovation, culture, and defence. Our technological and entrepreneurial excellence will be able to provide a decisive contribution. We want to become a leading partner in Saudi Arabia’s transformation.
Our countries are working side by side, following the path laid out in Riyadh last January by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, with the signing of agreements worth approximately $10 billion. Those agreements elevated bilateral relations to a strategic partnership and were inspired by a shared vision, i.e. strengthening infrastructure to help create the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), the new “Cotton Road” that aims to strengthen trade, energy, and digital connections between Asia and Europe.
This project is of great strategic interest to both countries and also encompasses sectors such as defence, energy, and data centres. Italian infrastructure – particularly the port of Trieste and the Italian Adriatic ports – can become a hub and terminal between Europe and India, where I will return in December to further explore the project.
I visited Riyadh in 2023, during the first months of my mandate. I will return to the Saudi Kingdom next Tuesday to lead a major systemic mission: 500 Italian companies will accompany the Government to explore the new frontiers of opportunities which are opening up, first with an Entrepreneurial Forum attended by over 900 companies, and then with three days of events leading up to the 2026 edition of the Milan Furniture Fair.
Some of our industrial champions, such as Leonardo, Fincantieri, Webuild, Ferrovie dello Stato, Italferr, SNAM, IVECO, Ferrero, MaireTecnimont, and Saipem, are already present in the country. However, we want to support companies, even the smallest ones, in new business and investment opportunities, especially in the field of sustainable mobility infrastructure and in preparation for major international events such as EXPO 2030 and the 2034 FIFA World Cup.
During the mission we will address the priorities expressed to us by our companies, but – I repeat – we are ready to listen to all companies wishing to invest or expand in the country. In order to best assist them, I will inaugurate a new SIMEST antenna in the Saudi capital. I will also visit the construction site of WeBuild – a group that has already contributed to the construction of Riyadh’s extensive driverless metro – in the GIGA Project Diriyah Gate Development Authority, where a large cultural and economic complex is planned.
We will discuss with the Saudis the cities of the future, infrastructure, sustainability and mobility, digital and multi-sector connectivity, agribusiness and water resource technologies, creative industries, culture and sports, as well as – of course – fashion, luxury goods, healthcare, and the pharmaceutical industry, which have driven our exports. In 2024 alone, our pharmaceutical exports reached €433.2 million (+104.4%), while the fashion and luxury sector reached €270 million in the same period, with an 18% increase.
But it is not just the economy that brings Italy and Saudi Arabia closer. It is also a genuine commitment to peace, on which we collaborate, especially in the Middle East. Our cooperation on the Gaza crisis is an example of this commitment: we share Saudi Arabia’s belief that only a credible path toward a two-State solution can bring lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Our credibility in the eyes of the Arab world has been further strengthened, thanks to the intense humanitarian activities in support of the Palestinians with the “Food for Gaza” programme and the life-saving medical evacuations from the Gaza Strip. We rank first among Western countries in terms of number of Gazans welcomed (1,300 people, including over 200 children in need of medical care).
Now we need to look to the future together and begin the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip as soon as possible. Italy and Saudi Arabia have a shared ambition, i.e. to work for a future based on stability, sustainable prosperity, and technological excellence, with comprehensive collaboration that respects the cultural identities that define us.
