The head of Dubai’s SACE financing company, Marco Ferioli, concluded a visit to Saudi Arabia to work with the Italian Embassy on deepening business relations between Italy and the Kingdom.
“We’re interested in enhancing the presence of Italian contractors and exporters, and improving knowledge of the market to seek more projects with an Italian flavor,” he told Arab News. SACE supports the financing of Italian companies and Saudi businesses that have an Italian component.
“The Italian economy is very well diversified, and we have leading companies that are able to participate in projects in all sectors,” he said.
The oil, gas and petrochemicals sector has been the main area of operation in the Italian experience in Saudi Arabia and the Gulf.
But there is a growing interest from Italian contractors in contributing to infrastructure plans in the Kingdom.
“Infrastructure is a boosting element in the development of a country, and creates a diversified economy,” Ferioli said.
He met with Italian entrepreneurs in Riyadh, and held meetings with the ministries of health and transport, to discuss potential partnerships on several levels, including financing government projects such as the metro railway in Riyadh.
Italian company Salini Impregilo has been handling the engineering and execution of Line 3 of the Riyadh metro since 2013.
“We’re prepared to discuss with the government whenever there are new opportunities on a government-to-government basis, rather than looking at solutions such as PPP (private-public partnership),” Ferioli said.
He visited the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce and Industry (JCCI) to enhance implementation of the memorandum of understanding, signed in 2016, to strengthen economic-commercial relations between the two countries.