Meloni: Italy to help in restoring destroyed Qatari energy infrastructure

DOHA: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni assured Qatar’s leader Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani that Italy would contribute to restoring Qatari energy infrastructure damaged by Iranian bombing, noting its natural gas production is critical to global energy security, her office said in a note.

Meloni and Sheikh Tamim also reaffirmed the necessity of opening the Strait of Hormuz, which has blocked for weeks by the conflict, stranding numerous oil tankers

Meloni arrived in Qatar on Saturday after a visit to Saudi Arabia, where she met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Meloni’s trip to the Gulf, which has been targeted on a daily basis by Iranian missile and drone attacks in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes, was not announced in advance.

According to the Qatari press agency QNA, Meloni “arrived in Doha on Saturday morning on a working visit to the country,” and was welcomed by Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, the state minister for foreign affairs, as well as the Italian ambassador.

The aim of the trip “is to strengthen relations with these countries and repeat Italy’s support against Iranian attacks,” an Italian government source told AFP on Friday, adding that the Gulf was a “crucial source of oil and gas for Italy.”

Italy is highly dependent on energy imports and has been eyeing rising energy prices with growing concern.

The source said Meloni was the first leader of a European Union or NATO country to travel to the Gulf since the war broke out on February 28 with a wave of US-Israeli attacks that killed Iran’s supreme leader.

The far-right prime minister is one of the European leaders closest to US President Donald Trump.

But she has insisted Italy does not want to join in the war effort, despite Trump urging other countries to help secure the Strait of Hormuz, which is vital to oil and gas shipments and has been all but closed since the start of the war.

• with AP