ROME: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim held high-level discussions with top executives from Italy’s leading industrial firms, reinforcing Malaysia’s position as a stable and progressive investment destination.
The meetings, held on the second day of his working visit, focused on strategic sectors like defence and energy.
Anwar engaged with shipbuilding giant Fincantieri’s CEO Pierroberto Folgiero and Leonardo’s senior vice-president Tomasso Pani, both key players in defence and aerospace.
The talks aimed to strengthen Malaysia’s role as a regional maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO) hub through government-to-government (G2G) partnerships.
The Prime Minister also met ENI’s CEO Claudio Descalzi to explore energy collaborations with Petronas.
“I emphasised Malaysia’s readiness for mutually beneficial investments and urged concrete actions to realise proposed projects within set timelines,“ Anwar stated.
Accompanied by ministers including Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin, Anwar later met Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani ahead of the Malaysia-Italy Economic Partnership Roundtable.
Trade between Malaysia and Italy grew by 3.3% year-on-year in early 2025, reaching RM6.5 billion.
Italy remains Malaysia’s fifth-largest trading partner and a major importer of Malaysian palm oil in the EU.
