Italy and
Saudi Arabia are united by numerous and strong ties that have developed over
the decades. In 1932, the two countries signed a Treaty of Friendship that
constitutes the origin of their bilateral relations. The celebrations of the
80th anniversary of the establishment of Saudi-Italian diplomatic relations
provide an opportunity to assess the state of these relations, as well as to
advance some proposals as to how the two countries’ mutual cooperation and
engagement in the regional and international arenas could be strengthened. The
steady development of Saudi-Italian relations over the past 80 years has most
recently been affected by the accelerated changes taking place in the
Mediterranean region as part of the so-called “Arab Spring”. This region represents
a priority for both countries and a significant link between them. Both
economic imperatives and a geo-strategic rationale lie behind the increasingly
frequent calls for a consolidation of bilateral relations between Italy and the
countries of the GCC in general, and Saudi Arabia in particular.
This book
wishes to commemorate the outstanding level of engagement between Italy and the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in a number of domains. It also aims to advance our
knowledge of the most promising areas of cooperation, the challenges facing
such cooperation and the prospects for future mutual engagement.