Chief of the General Staff of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Lieutenant-General Fayyadh bin Hamed Al-Ruwaili started an official several-day visit to Italy.

Upon arrival at Ciampino Military Airport in Rome Thursday, he was received by Chief of the Defense Staff of Italy, Admiral Giuseppe Cavo Dragone, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

Al-Ruwaili met with Italian Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, and discussed bilateral cooperation and means to bolster joint military coordination.

Al-Ruwaili visited the headquarters of Italy’s Defense General Staff, where he met with Chief of Staff Dragone on and discussed a number of topics of mutual concern and means to enhance joint cooperation.

Following his meeting with Admiral Dragone, Al-Ruwaili met with Secretary General of Defense and National Armaments Director, Lieutenant General Luciano Portolano, and discussed a number of topics of mutual concern.

During a meeting with General Francesco Paolo Figliuolo, Commander of Italian Joint Operations Headquarters, Al-Ruwaili discussed bilateral relations as well as means to enhance defense cooperation.

Accompanied by Italy’s Chief of Staff, Minister of Defense, Secretary General of Defense, and National Armaments Director, Al-Ruwaili toured the Italian defense industries, including Fincantieri shipbuilding company, electronic-warfare specialist Elettronica, Leonardo Defense, and MBDA, where he was briefed about their military and defense products.

The meetings were attended by Al-Ruwaili’s military escort and the Military Attaché at the Saudi Embassy in Rome Brigadier Eng. Abdulhadi Al-Omari.

In another development, the Saudi Export-Import Bank signed in Rome Thursday a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Italian Export Credit Agency (SACE) which aims to empower Saudi exporters and international investors and enhance the Saudi-Italian trade exchange.

The memo falls within the bank’s endeavor to open new horizons for the Saudi exports and enhance their presence in international markets.

The memo was signed by EXIM Bank CEO Eng. Saad bin Abdul Aziz Alkhalb and SACE CEO Alessandra Ricci at her agency’s headquarters in Rome.

The agreement aims at establishing a framework for mutual reinsurance in a way that enhances the presence of Saudi exports in Italian markets, and it opens horizons for cooperation in the areas of professional development, transfer of knowledge of best practices in export credit, and cooperation in international projects that utilize the Saudi and Italian resources in line with the economic goals of the two parties.

EXIM Bank is one of the main pillars in supporting Saudi exports and increasing their impact on the development of the national economy, in line with the targets of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 to increase the value of non-oil exports from 16% to 50% of the non-oil GDP.