Gulf states key for migration and Ukraine says Tajani in UAE

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 18 - The Gulf states are key partners of Italy on a number of issues including migration and the knock-on effects of the war of aggression in Ukraine, Foreign Minister and Deputy Premier Antonio Tajani said on Sunday.
    "The Gulf countries are key players for more than one political reason: they are decisive players in Africa, in the Mediterranean and in the Middle East, for the stabilisation of crisis areas and to strengthen joint action both to prevent migration and to concretely fight against the trafficking of migrants," said Tajani during a mission to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to meet his counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
    The agenda for the meeting includes consolidation of bilateral relations, economic cooperation and business opportunities, but also migration and regional dossiers, especially Tunisia and Libya.
    Following the formalisation by Premier Giorgia Meloni of a "strategic relationship", with the UAE during a visit in March, "now we are returning precisely to open a new chapter of cooperation", added the foreign minister.
    The government, said Tajani, is "working on a strategic foreign policy" that is "paying increasing attention to the 'Global South': we need (these countries) certainly for migration first of all, but also politically - see Ukraine - for the energy dimension, in support of the interests of Italy and the whole of Europe".
    The Emirates "invest in Africa even more than China. But above all, they have a very strong understanding of Africa from a social, cultural and religious point of view", he continued. The Gulf states are at the same time "increasingly integrated with us Europeans", said Tajani.
    "We have a capacity for understanding, for joint action that we want to transform into political action," he continued, stressing the importance for the biggest Western economies to remain connected to the rest of the world. "The experience of the aggression against Ukraine has made us realise that we risk not getting our message across if we do not share our assessments and decisions with other partners on a day-to-day basis," Tajani said.
    "And in this phase of building a new vision, our relationship with the Emirates and the Gulf states is crucial," he concluded.
    (ANSA).