Italy’s far right wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni was scheduled to arrive in Italy on 22 January for a two-day working trip. In another illustration of the excellence and importance of bilateral relations, this is the third trip by an Italian premier to Algeria in less than a year, after those of Mario Draghi, in April and July 2022. Meloni intends to continue and consolidate the process of a win-win partnership between Algeria and Italy which was initiated by her predecessor.

A few weeks after the outbreak of war in Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Draghi travelled to Algiers to witness the signing of an agreement between Sonatrach and Eni for increased deliveries of Algerian gas for Italy by an additional 9 billion cubic metres (BCM) over three years.

In July a US$4 billion agreement was signed between Sonatrach, Eni, Occidental and TotalEnergies for the development of Algerian gas fields which is intended to increase supplies to Italy. During the same period, an increase of 4 BCM a year of gas to Italy had already been announced.

For its part Algeria wishes to: export electricity to Italy and the rest of Europe; obtain a transfer of technology and know-how to modernise its economy; and attract more Italian investment in other areas as well as the energy sector.

A few months after Draghi’s two trips, Stellantis announced with great fanfare the forthcoming opening in Algeria of a Fiat vehicle factory.

Meloni has been very pragmatic in her statements on bilateral relations. With Algeria, she intends to consolidate the energy partnership and keep to her predecessor’s commitments for more diversified cooperation, and discuss investments in green energy, the pharmaceutical industry, mechanics, agro-industry, tourism and start-ups. This double objective is reflected in the composition of her delegation which included Eni’s CEO Claudio Descalzi who is a regular visitor, and Carlo Bonomi who is the president of Confindustria which is Italy’s main employers’ organization. According to the Italian press, two new energy agreements are planned, while Bonomi will sign agreements with his Algerian counterparts aimed at facilitating exchanges between companies from the two countries.

Italian observers believe that the theme of immigration, obviously very important dear to the Italian far right, will find its way onto the agenda, even though the problem is unlikely to arise with the same acuteness as with France, which is the main destination for Algerian immigration.