HM King chairs second working session of GCC Summit with HE President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic as Guest of Honour
Manama, Dec. 3 (BNA): His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, President of the current session of the Supreme Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), chaired the second working session of the 46th GCC Summit at Al Sakhir Palace.
The session was attended by Her Excellency Giorgia Meloni, President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic, as the summit’s Guest of Honour.
At the opening of the session, His Majesty the King delivered the following speech.
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,
Your Majesties and Highnesses,
Your Excellency Mrs. Giorgia Meloni, President of the Council of Ministers of the friendly Italian Republic,
Distinguished guests,
May the peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you
At the outset, it is a pleasure to welcome the President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic, Her Excellency Giorgia Meloni, as the Guest of Honour of this Summit, together with her accompanying delegation, wishing her a pleasant stay in the Kingdom of Bahrain and every success in her endeavours, for which we hold deep appreciation.
Your valued participation reflects the depth of the long-standing relations uniting our countries and peoples, grounded in mutual trust, understanding, and respect, and underlines our shared commitment to advancing our constructive strategic alliances.
From this perspective, we reiterate the keenness of the GCC states to develop cooperation and to broaden the horizons of partnership with the friendly Italian Republic, and to further consolidate the economic, social, and cultural ties between our peoples, building upon the values of civilisational dialogue and human rapprochement.
We also take pride in what has been achieved by the Italian Republic in terms of notable progress across various levels, and we value its pioneering efforts in promoting international peace and security. We appreciate Italy’s active contribution to safeguarding international maritime security, and we share your aspirations for ushering in peace and stability in our region and across the world – an objective requiring concerted international efforts which enables peoples to live in security and prosperity.
In conclusion, we welcome you once again, expressing our confidence that this meeting will yield positive and fruitful outcomes which further enhance our longstanding friendship, and enrich the domains of cooperation between the countries of the GCC and your friendly country.
We now invite Your Excellency to deliver your address.
May the peace, mercy, and blessings of God be upon you.
HE Prime Minister Meloni subsequently delivered the following address:
Your Majesties, Royal Highnesses, Dear Friends,
It is a great honour, for me, to be here with you all today, and I deeply thank once again His Majesty King Hamad for this historic opportunity that the Gulf Cooperation Council is offering to the Nation I represent. A great Nation, with an ancient heart and a forward-looking attitude, capable of captivating the world with its identity and playing a leading role on the European and international stage.
A Nation bearing, in its own DNA, features such as dialogue, ability to deal with everyone, and respect for its interlocutor.
This is our tradition, it is what has always characterised us, it is the asset that has allowed the Italian civilisation to get "positively influenced" and enriched, yet never losing its identity.
It is a story lost in the mists of time. The limes arabicus (the border between the Roman Empire and the Arabian Peninsula) was not a rigid separation, but a space for transit, communication, and trade, crossed by that "spice route" that united Ancient Rome and India, after crossing the Mediterranean.
And Italy could never conceive of itself without the Mediterranean, the very heart of the world's political, cultural, and commercial exchanges for millennia and still today the shortest route of communication between the planet's two great maritime spaces, the Atlantic Ocean and the Indo-Pacific.
A sea that occupies only 1% of the world's waters, yet it is crossed by 20% of the world's maritime traffic thanks to the Suez Canal connection.
This is how geography and history have shaped our relationships and are destined to chart our common future. I am convinced that considering both the Mediterranean and the Gulf as "regional seas" alien to the great challenges is reductive. I see them instead as spaces that project their action far beyond their physical and natural boundaries; spaces that, together, can be protagonists of major intercontinental interconnections.
This vision leads us to behave as natural partners. And I am convinced we can be an engine of cooperation and, by uniting the West and the East (Europe and Asia), we can contribute to helping overcome divisions.
If I look at the map, I see that the Mediterranean and the Gulf guard some of the most important and strategic passages at a global level: the Hormuz Strait, Bab-el-Mendeb, the Suez Canal and Gibraltar. A pathway linking Asia, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and the United States.
And we all know that the importance of our shared space is only destined to increase, and that we need a more structured dialogue leading to enhanced cooperation, if we want, all of us, to take full advantage of the opportunities offered by our geopolitical centrality.
For this reason, if you agree, I would like to work on a "GCC-MED" Summit that I am ready to host in Italy – a Nation historically and geographically at the core of these spaces – to create this new and ambitious format of dialogue between Gulf and Mediterranean Nations.
A format that does not mean to compete with other international initiatives or being an alternative to them, but one that works on common features, synergies, and mutual strengths.
Our goal must be building a common operational platform focusing on the challenges in which we can make a difference.
And the first of these challenges lies in developing economic interconnections, increasingly decisive in the globalised and highly innovative economic landscape we are experiencing.
I am thinking of the India-Middle East Corridor, the infrastructure and economic project to connect major port cities in India, the Middle East, and Europe, enabling interconnection with the United States. This initiative would allow our economies and businesses to unleash enormous potential, and – in it – Italy intends to play a leading role – for example, counting on a crucial hub such as Trieste, the northernmost port in the Mediterranean and a historic maritime gate to the Balkans and the rest of Central and Eastern Europe.
Equally strategic is the digital connection domain, at a time when data are increasingly becoming the new fuel of our societies. One of the main projects involving us is the construction of the Blue Raman cable, the maritime backbone to connect Europe to India, through Italy, the Mediterranean and the Arabian Peninsula. An infrastructure we deem essential for meeting the growing demand for connectivity also linked to A.I. overwhelming development.
But we also aim to lay the foundations of a new energy diplomacy, to multiply the opportunities for cooperation between Italy and the Gulf and offer decisive opportunities for the transition’s success.
Technological neutrality is the principle that shall shape our thinking, to build a mix of all the technologies available and those addressed by research and innovation. Like nuclear fusion, which would allow changing history, by producing clean, safe, and unlimited energy at low cost.
Italy can and will be – for the Gulf – the gateway to Europe, giving even stronger momentum to economic cooperation that is now worth 35 billion dollars a year, but does not express the true potential of our relationship.
There is great room for development, drawing on a typical feature of our way of conceiving partnership with other Nations: the "Italian System" does not just export off-the-shelf products, but provides its partners – and their growth and development plans – with financial instruments, know-how, industrial skills, and technological capabilities in the most advanced sectors. Because the "Italian System" understands the concept of cooperation as per its original meaning.
The etymology of the word cooperation originates from the Latin cooperari, which literally means "to work with". True cooperation does not involve an active and a passive subject, one who buys and one who sells, for example.
It always implies something built together, something new that will arise from such joint work.
Through this enhanced cooperation that I want to build, Italy, Europe, the Gulf Nations but also North Africa and the Middle East can, therefore, work together for shaping something new, in order to build an increasingly secure, stable, and prosperous geopolitical space.
This is even more important in the Gulf area, which guards sea routes that are as crucial as exposed to risks and tensions originating from Middle East instability.
Personally, I believe three priority paths shall be travelled to achieve stability in your region and ours.
The first path goes through the Middle East, especially now that the Plan presented by President Trump offers a real possibility to build a stable and lasting framework of peace and security. We know well how fragile the truce is and how much work will be needed to turn this opportunity into a long-term reality, but we are all committed to supporting and nurturing the unity of purpose proved by the international community in Sharm el-Sheikh, attaining an uncommon level of sharing and participation.
Italy is doing its own part, both by training the Palestinian police and providing the aid package for the Reconstruction Conference. Yet, I remain convinced that, to ensure the Middle East the security and stability it deserves, we shall work to attain the two-State structural solution. And we all know this requires Israel's recognition of the Palestinians' right to have their own State, and the definitive recognition of the State of Israel’s right to existence and security.
I am fully aware this is not an easy path; yet when I look at the Leaders around this table, I am convinced we all want the same thing: a future of peace and prosperity, a future of stability; being able to focus on exchange rather than humanitarian aid, on strategy rather than emergency, on stability rather than uncertainty.
We all know this peace proposal is an opportunity that may not be replicated, and this is why Italy intends to support it firmly.
The second path goes through Iran. Iran has repeatedly stated it does not intend to get a nuclear weapon. If that is true – and I want to believe it is – reaching a demanding and credible agreement as soon as possible is essential, with full involvement of the International Atomic Energy Agency to reassure the international community of the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear programme.
As in the past, when we hosted two rounds of negotiation between Iran and the United States, Italy is ready to offer any useful contribution to restarting a diplomatic process and working with everyone – Iran, the United States, the Nations present here – to achieve this shared goal.
The third path goes through countering terrorism and extremism. In this, we must keep working with all our available tools: financial, military, judicial. We have achieved remarkable results together, but we are all aware that we can and must do much more.
Relations between Europe and the Gulf Nations are experiencing a very positive phase, relying on fruitful political dialogue and robust trade relations. This allows us to speak among us very sincerely and not stay silent about the growing tensions in Europe, linked to instances of Islamic radicalism.
In several European contexts, we are increasingly witnessing the phenomenon of Islamic separatism – that is, the failure by some Islamic communities to recognise the laws and customs of European Nations.
This triggers tensions that risk undermining social cohesion and fuelling hostility towards Muslim minorities across Europe.
Working together is essential for building shared paths to avert fundamentalist proselytism in Europe, enhance fruitful forms of dialogue and discussion between different identities, and concretely support integration paths.
But the assumption should be the same for all of us. When you choose to live in a foreign Nation, you should accept its laws, culture, and traditions.
Coexistence is possible; and I reiterate it here, in a Nation that has been a pioneer of inter-faith dialogue and respect for the other thanks to King Hamad. I wish to recall and share with you an enlightened passage from the Kingdom of Bahrain’s Declaration, "We commit to working for a world where people of sincere belief join together to reject that which divides us and concentrate instead on celebrating and expanding on that which unites us."
Dialogue is not conceived as a tool for homologation or for eliminating differences. Conversely, dialogue shall help get to know each other to ensure full mutual respect. In fact, the Italian for respect derives from the Latin "respicere", meaning to "look in depth". Respect implies understanding history, culture, roots; and its precondition lies in the awareness and pride of own identity, because only strong identities do not fear dialogue.
This is the precondition for jointly defending inevitable assumptions of any safe and prosperous society, such as religious freedom and people's rights.
Your Majesties, Royal Highnesses, Dear Friends,
In working on this meeting, I discovered one of the most fascinating symbols of this land, the Shajarat-al-Hayat: "the Tree of Life", the magnificent acacia tree that has lived and thrived in the Bahraini desert for four hundred years.
It is a symbol of the impossible that becomes possible. Like cooperation between us, which some would like to make impossible but which instead, like "the tree of life", can richly flourish for a long time ahead. This is my personal wish and the reason why I am proud to be here.
Shukran! [Thank you!]
This was followed by a statement from Jasem Mohamed Al Budaiwi, Secretary General of the GCC.
Following the public addresses, His Majesty the King chaired a closed session with GCC leaders, their representatives, and HE the Italian Prime Minister, as Guest of Honour.
The discussions focused on strengthening historical ties, expanding strategic partnerships, and exploring opportunities for enhanced collaboration across multiple sectors to advance mutual interests.
