UAE to invest $40 billion in Italy following MBZ’s state visit

UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed’s state visit to meet Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome produced a range of deals aimed at strengthening both business and security ties between the two countries.

Emirati officials signed deals on Monday to invest $40 billion in Italy across projects ranging from artificial intelligence to undersea cables and renewable energy.

“This collaboration underscores the importance of Italy and the UAE as strategic partners for innovation, sustainable economic development and technological exchange,” the countries said in a joint statement.

Sheikh Mohamed’s trip was the first by a UAE President to Italy. Meloni visited Abu Dhabi in January.

Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week draws presidents, energy CEOs

Environmentalists and energy companies are pouring into Abu Dhabi as a week of events focused on battling climate change kicks off.

Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week will draw 13 heads of state and at least 140 government ministers and senior officials from around the world when it starts on Monday with the annual assembly of IRENA, the U.N.’s International Renewable Energy Agency, which is based in the emirate.

With the week’s centerpiece ADSW Summit slated for Wednesday, other notable gatherings include the Global Climate Finance Annual Meeting, the World Future Energy Summit, the Green Energy Summit, the WiSER Forum for Women in Sustainability, Environment and Renewable Energy, and the ceremony to award the annual Zayed Sustainability Prize Awards.

Choreographing all the activities is Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, the UAE Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, Group CEO of ADNOC and Chairman of the Abu Dhabi-based Masdar sustainable energy company. Al Jaber was President of COP28, the annual U.N. climate conference held in Dubai two years ago.

Among the national leaders joining the coming week’s events are Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Finland’s Prime Minister Petteri Orpo, Azerbaijani President, Kenyan President William Ruto, Rwandan President Paul Kagame. ADSW is conducted under the patronage of UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed.

”By bringing together leaders in policy, business and technology, ADSW Summit 2025 will unite the global community to deliver interconnected solutions for energy, economies, and the environment,” Masdar CEO Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Sustainability Week’s official host, said in a statement.

Topping the list of ADSW speakers will be Mohamed Al Hammadi, Managing Director and CEO of the Emirates Nuclear Energy Company; Catherine MacGregor, CEO of Paris-based Engie; Greg Jackson, CEO of the U.K.’s Octopus Energy; Lord Adair Turner, Chair of the international Energy Transitions Commission; Dr. Mahmoud Mohieldin, Special Envoy for Financing the U.N.’s 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda, United Nations; Musabbeh Al Kaabi, CEO of ADNOC’s Upstream division; and Himanshu Gupta, CEO and co-founder of San Francisco-based ClimateAi.