- The Gulf region, made up of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar (Members of the Gulf Cooperation Council — GCC), Iran, Iraq and Yemen, is in a period of economic expansion.
- The six GCC countries continue to pursue the route of regional integration and have launched some cautious institutional and social reforms.
Italy has boosted its market share and maintained a high political profile in the area (reconstruction efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, troops in Lebanon).The official visit of President Prodi to Riyadh (April 2007) and that of the King of Saudi Arabia to Rome (November 2007) confirmed the excellent level of bilateral relations between the two countries in all sectors of cooperation. King Abdullah’s historic visit to Rome — 34 years after that of King Faisal in 1974 — led, in fact, to the strengthening of relations with Saudi Arabia, the top economic, energy and political power in the Arab world and the Middle East and, with the signing of major understandings in various sectors, laid the foundations for further development of trade relations.Political consultations with Riyadh are frequent given the Saudi’s indispensable role in all the main Middle-East concerns.