Monti hopes for UAE investments

Italian PM Mario Monti (center) Abu Dhabi - Jamal Al-Majaida   Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti trusts the United Arab Emirates will help his country recover from its economic meltdown. Monti also addressed the situation in Gaza. He assured his country is working alongside other international powers to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to end the Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip. We have been directly informed by Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Mohammed Morsi about the developments in Gaza. We have urged a ceasefire and a return to negotiations to find a final solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he said to Arabstoday. Speaking during a visit to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Monti asked for a more strategic relationship with the UAE, which would focus on defence, technology and infrastructure. He said relations between Italy and the UAE had been "very good for a long time" and that the Italian government is "very keen on more integration between the two countries on mutual investments". Monti held talks with the UAE President, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, the Vice President and Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, and the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, on increasing trade and investment. Mr Monti said he expected more investments from the UAE and the Gulf Cooperation Council to his debt-ridden country. The Italian PM arrived Tuesday in Abu Dhabi, the final stop of his Gulf tour that also included Qatar, Oman and Kuwait. He said the Italian Investment Fund [Fondo Strategico Italiano] and Qatar Holdings had agreed to a €2 billion (Dh9.4bn) joint venture in "Italian industry sectors". "These sectors include food products and services, fashion, luxury and other areas of excellence within the Italian industry," Mr Monti said. Monti said the reforms his government was putting in place were making his country more attractive to foreign investors. "The improvements that we are rather quickly trying to bring to Italy and the structural reforms we have initiated will make the country become more productive and receptive to foreign investments," Monti said. "Italian economy, which has been rather slow in the last 15 years in terms of growth – compared to the rest of the euro zone -- has a good deal of potential in terms of catching up once its structures are fully reformed." Monti told Arabstoday that his meeting with Sheikh Khalifa "establishes a new stage in strategic partnership relations between the UAE and Italy," hailing Sheikh Khalifa's keenness on the development of relations of cooperation and friendship between the two countries in various fields. He also noted the Italian government's eagerness to develop strategic partnership relations with the UAE will make a qualitative addition to these relations through continued dialogue with senior officials in the two countries. The Italian Prime Minister also stressed the importance of his talks with Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum which focused on ways of strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries and prospects for closer cooperation in various fields. He also noted the importance of his meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, during which they discussed development of bilateral relations, especially in the fields of economy, trade and investment. Monti said he believed that the EU countries are moving on the right track to solve their financial crisis, adding that the EU Central Bank programme of purchasing governmental treasury notes has saved the European economy from a major defect. As for Italy, Monti expected that the financial policies applied by his government will lead to a significant decrease in his country's budget deficit by 2013. Yet it wouldn't affect creating more job opportunities to the Italians. Italy has the third biggest economy in the EU, and the second most important industry after Germany.  The country has been severely affected by the recent economic crisis in Europe; a crisis that Monti stressed is yet to reach and end, "but we at least got over the worst part of it."