Why ties with Italy matter so much to the UAE

Last week I visited Rome and Milan on a working visit.

This visit sits within a broader mandate I carry as a Special Envoy for Business and Philanthropy: to open practical avenues of business-to-business co-operation across a wide set of strategic partners in Europe, Asia and the Americas.

Italy was one of these stops, selected for its complementary strengths and the momentum created earlier this year, with President Sheikh Mohamed’s state visit to Italy underscored an intent to translate goodwill into delivery, including a $40 billion investment commitment across key sectors.

Over several days we held a few dozen focused engagements across advanced industry, finance, digital infrastructure and AI, technical training initiatives, and health and life sciences.

We also convened a roundtable of leading Italian foundations and corporate philanthropies to shape a pilot initiative around youth and skills development.

In parallel, cultural and educational links were on the agenda, from joint exhibitions and residencies to university exchanges that build bridges between our creative and academic communities.

The outcomes of such international engagements must translate into opportunities created for our entrepreneurs and SMEs, our students and researchers, our cultural institutions and philanthropies and the communities they serve. They also directly support the UAE’s national agenda of economic diversification, innovation and global partnership.

The UAE economy has diversified decisively: non-oil sectors now account for three-quarters of national output, driven by logistics, finance, technology, tourism, advanced manufacturing, life sciences and the creative industries.

The country has invested at scale in artificial intelligence and advanced digital infrastructure – from research institutions and talent pipelines to the computing capacity that modern enterprise requires.

Italian industrial depth and engineering excellence pair naturally with the UAE’s platforms for rapid adoption and regional scale. When those strengths are combined well, promising ideas move faster from pilot to platform, and value flows in both directions.

Equally important is the how. We approached the week with a clear standard: useful conversations that lead to appointed focal points, simple workplans, and near-term milestones. Some engagements set the stage for new co-operation; others progressed existing tracks.

In philanthropy, for example, partners agreed to scope measurable programmes that can be designed in 90 days and executed with transparent governance.

In technology and energy, corporates compared roadmaps and identified specific areas where the UAE’s scale and Italy’s capabilities meet – whether that is grid modernisation and storage, clean power integration, AI enabled industry or health innovation.

These outcomes now extend to the UAE’s private sector, civil society and knowledge institutions, inviting local participation in what we co-create abroad.

The UAE’s small and medium enterprises and middle-capital companies can plug into new supply chains and co-innovation opportunities. Universities and research centres in the Emirates can partner on translational projects.

The arts and cultural platforms can deepen people-to-people ties that make commercial partnerships more resilient. And the philanthropic community, with its strong record in humanitarian action and development, can partner in outcomes that uplift the most vulnerable.

With all international partners we engage, the UAE’s role is to be a reliable, constructive counterpart: moving quickly, communicating clearly and staying the course. As an Arab proverb reminds us, “Trust in God, but tie your camel.” Ambition matters; so do discipline and follow through.

Our country’s economic story has been one of diversification, openness and partnership. As we continue to match the UAE’s dynamism and platforms with complementary strengths abroad, we will create new opportunities for our people and deliver broader social value.

That is why countries such as Italy matter to readers at home in the UAE, and why you will see this work continue across a broad slate of partner countries in the months ahead.

Source: The National