He met his Omani counterpart Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al Busaidi at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday. 'We very much appreciate the role the wise and balanced role of Oman in the region and we had a very fruitful and interesting exchange of views on developments in this area' he said.

He said Italian enterprises closely monitor Oman's development plans. 'We think and we hope that there will be room for them to even have a stronger and more robust role in these plans.'

Valensise said a newly created special association between Oman and Italy should lead to even closer ties. 'Oman and Italy have a very friendly and promising political and economic and cultural relations. Our duty is to develop and strengthen this cooperation.'