ROME (ITALPRESS) – “These have been six very difficult weeks for the entire Gulf. The countries in the area have not been and continue not to be part of this conflict. We did not participate. We did not allow participation through our lands and waters. However, we have been subjected to brutal attacks.” This is how Bahrain’s Ambassador to Italy, Ausama Alabsi, described the situation in the Gulf region in an interview with Claudio Brachino for Diplomacy Magazine, the geopolitical column of the Italpress agency.
“A number of drones and missiles equivalent to one attack per square kilometer has rained down in the last six weeks. But the most important thing, I believe, for Italy, for Europe, for the rest of the world, is the understanding that the stability of our region is very important, not only for the flow of energy, not only for gas or oil”, the diplomat observed.
“I’ll give you a simple example, and we hope to discuss this soon at the FAO: 33% of the world’s fertilizers come from our part of the world. Farmers across the planet will have a very difficult season due to fertilizer shortages. Another example is a gas like helium. About 30% of the world’s helium production comes from us. Helium is used to cool machines, and every MRI machine, in every hospital in the world, uses helium as a cooling agent. Now, if we have 30% of the helium idling, this will impact every hospital in the world”, Alabsi continued.
“Our part of the world is integrated into supply chains, the globalization of trade, and materials. And the closure of an area like ours will impact everyone. The stability of Europe, the stability of the Gulf, and the stability of Southeast Asia are all interconnected in the 21st century. We cannot continue to live the way we desire unless we are all safe, in a stable environment, and with the free flow of trade, ships, and materials”, noted the Bahraini ambassador to Rome.
Despite the recent difficulties, posed by the Iranian attacks in the context of the conflict between Tehran, the United States, and Israel, the belief in cultivating and increasingly strengthening economic ties with Italy remains firm. “Italy has been our main trading partner in the European Union for several years. And this is no small achievement. We have worked really hard to develop bilateral trade”, stated Alabsi.
“It’s interesting to note that the majority of trade or exports from Italy to Bahrain are industrial products, which are the backbone of Italian ingenuity and engineering, in addition, of course, to luxury goods and fashion. However, Italian technology and machinery have been employed in our oil and gas industry, and Italy is a major source of engineering and technical products. As for Bahrain, we mainly export metals like aluminum and, of course, refined energy,” the diplomat explained.
As for investments, there have been “several in both directions”, the ambassador added. “I think this is one of the major achievements of our Crown Prince and Prime Minister’s visit to Rome last September, when the Strategic Investment Program between Bahrain and Italy was signed,”
Alabsi said, adding that the agreement is worth approximately one billion euros. “We’ve been working very hard with the Ministry of Business and Made in Italy here in Rome, as well as with our counterparts in Bahrain. Since the agreement was signed at the end of September, we had to start creating the mechanisms for it. We were doing very well until we got a bit ‘distracted’ in the last month. But we’ll move forward. The belief that we need to increase our bilateral investments and have a strong Bahraini presence in Italy, and vice versa, is something both the Bahraini and Italian leaderships place great importance on,” he concluded.
From a political standpoint, 2025 in particular “has been truly special in relations between Italy and Bahrain”, the diplomat emphasized. “In January 2025, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visited Bahrain. She was the first Italian Prime Minister to visit us. Then, in July, His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa visited Rome. In September, His Royal Highness Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Bahrain, Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, visited Rome, leading a large economic delegation. And again, in December 2025, Meloni visited Bahrain for the second time in a year. The second visit was to attend the Gulf Cooperation Council summit, held in Bahrain at the invitation of His Majesty the King. She was one of only four world leaders to attend the summit as a guest of honor in 48 years”, he concluded.
A final, but not least, note concerns the relationship between the two people. “First of all, I would like to share my personal experience. Right now, in April, I have been living in Italy for exactly two years, and I want to say this: I feel 100% at home. The Bahraini people are a people who live on an island. We have traded, traveled, and interacted with other cultures and other peoples for thousands of years, and this makes us similar to the Italian people, Italy being one of the main hubs in the Mediterranean. I feel that on a cultural level, on a human level, we are very, very close,” Alabsi observed.
Culture is the ideal terrain for exchange and the growth of human relationships, and it is no coincidence that the Bahraini Embassy, as its head of mission explained, is working to bring several artists from the Gulf country to Italy. “As I said, I think we are much closer as peoples than most people think. The same values, the same love of life, the same appreciation of beauty and art. I saw all of this when I arrived in Italy. And I would like, through you, to conclude by saying to the Italian people and government: thank you for welcoming me here. It has been fantastic for me and my family. And I will work hard to bring the businesses, governments, and people of Bahrain and Italy closer together,” Ambassador Alabsi concluded.
-Photo Italpress-
(ITALPRESS).
