On Friday, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu expressed Israel’s readiness to help Italy become an energy hub.
Netanyahu told Italy’s PM, Giorgia Meloni, that there was room for much greater cooperation between the two countries. He also offered to forge deeper ties with Italy in an array of sectors, including water, cybersecurity, and energy.
Netanyahu stated, "Italy has said it wants to be a hub for the supply of energy for Europe. We think exactly that and we have gas reserves that we are now exporting and we would like to expedite more gas exports to Europe through Italy.”
Netanyahu also elaborated on the initial agreement in November with Eni and TotalEnergies, enabling the companies to start exploring natural gas within the framework of a landmark maritime border deal with Lebanon.
He said, "There is now a participation of Eni in our gas projects, but we think we can carry it to a much higher level.”
He added that Italian and Israeli ministers would meet in Israel in the coming months for bilateral talks. "(We) will address perhaps a dozen areas of mutual cooperation to the benefit of Italy and Israel alike," he said.
Due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Italy is committed to replacing its imports of energy from Russia and wants to take advantage of this to become a major transporter of gas from North Africa and the Mediterranean.
