ROME

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni met on Friday in Rome, stressing the wide opportunities for their two countries to cooperate in key sectors, including new solutions to water shortages and gas distribution.

In a joint press conference with Meloni following their meeting, Netanyahu said he sees “enormous” chances to step up cooperation with Rome, inviting the Italian leader and her government to meet again in Israel, as soon as this year.

Netanyahu openly named the use of water resources as one of the fields in which Israel can offer its expertise to help manage the water crisis that hit Italy in the past few years.

"We also want to accelerate the export of gas to Europe through Italy,” he said, adding that Rome could become the European hub for natural gas as it faces a growing energy challenge.

Meloni, who heads a right-wing coalition government, accepted Netanyahu’s invitation for an inter-governmental summit in Israel and confirmed Italy’s support for restarting peace talks to address the Israeli-Palestinian crisis.

“We are ready to favor any political process and will do everything we can to help the restart of agreements between Israel and Palestine for a de-escalation,” Meloni said.​​​