Today in Italy we celebrate the 66th anniversary of the foundation of the Italian Republic. On June 2, 1946, after the calamity of the war, the constitutional referendum held by universal suffrage took place that resulted in a Republican form of State being adopted. The date became therefore a crucial event of Italian contemporary history and the country's National Day. From that turning point, Italy recovered its policy of friendly relations with all its neighbors and the rest of the international community, becoming in a handful of years an influential regional power and one of the major world economies. With the foundation of the Republic, moreover, Italy went back to the original spirit of its “Mediterranean vocation”, under the banner of peace and in recognition of the crucial principle of people's self determination, the right of every people to determine its own political destiny. It was in other words the return to the former tradition of a “diplomacy of friendship”: a model of diplomacy typically Italian, conceived to handle the external relations favoring the establishment of dialogue and cooperation with all the countries, and particularly with those of the Mediterranean and the Middle East. A model that is in its very nature flexible and opposed to every form of clash of civilizations. It is not a coincidence, therefore, that an Italian scholar from the University of Naples, Prof. Matteo Pizzigallo, entitled his work on the relationship between Italy and Saudi Arabia from 1932 to 1942: “the diplomacy of friendship”. A Treaty of Friendship and a Treaty of commerce between the two countries were in fact signed in February 1932. In the current year we are therefore celebrating the 80th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic and trade relations between Italy and Saudi Arabia. The Italian Government and the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Rome, on the initiative of H.E. Ambassador Saleh Mohammed Al Ghamdi, are therefore tentatively organizing a series of events to commemorate this occasion. They should take place, predictably, the next fall, pending the final approval by the Italian and Saudi Authorities. With the signature of the above-mentioned agreements, Italy continued its ancient tradition of relations between the Italian peninsula and the Orient. It is sufficient to consider, for example, the tradition of Venetian merchants dominating the trade with the East. Relations that have always been particularly strong with the Islamic and Arab world. As a matter of fact, after the signature of the Friendship and Commerce Treaties in 1932, and with only a brief interruption of the relations during the Second World War, the political, economic and cultural relations between Italy and Saudi Arabia have been growing strongly, as to cover practically all sectors of bilateral interest. The relations between our countries go much beyond the commercial figures. Especially here, in Jeddah, a few kilometers from the holiest city of Islam, we can reaffirm what the former Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Franco Frattini stated in an article on the occasion of one of his visit to the Kingdom: that Rome and Mecca are the poles of an historical area, the enlarged Mediterranean, representing the cradle of this driving force of History that are the monotheistic religions of the Peoples of the Book. Today Italy and Saudi Arabia are convinced that the basis of international stability lies in dialogue and multilateralism under the auspices of international institutions. Italy: a very active member of the UN, founder of the European Union, member of the G8. Saudi Arabia: a Country that, in particular under the wise leadership of Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz, is building its road into a solid future, is increasingly present in the UN institutions, is a leading member of the Gulf Cooperation Council and a member of the G20. Both countries agree on the crucial issue of global economic governance, in particular the need to coordinate national policies and to strengthen the international financial architecture, inspired by criteria of transparency and paying the utmost attention to the legitimate aspirations of emerging countries. While we celebrate the anniversary of our diplomatic relations, my hope is that we will live up to the level of the trust placed on our shoulders and to the expectations of our people, as we work together, Italians and Saudis, Arabs and Europeans, to face the challenges that this new era brings. Actually, that is what friends are for.
Simone Petroni The Consul General of Italy in Jeddah __
