During his recent visit to Beirut, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi pursued the discussed initiated in Rome during the Arab Banking Conference with Dr. Torbey. Discussions included the future steps to be taken to enhance the cooperation between the Union of Arab Banks (UAB) and Italy which has been playing a significant role within the European-Arab Partnership. Prodi affirmed that Lebanon's stability is essential to the whole region, while expressing the need to solve thorny issues in the Middle-East, namely the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. He reassured that Italy contributed politically, diplomatically and economically to bring the July crisis to an end, whether through its presence in the United Nations, its participation in the UNIFIL forces and in the Stockholm Conference. Italian Prime Minister also stated that the opportunity of reinforcing commerce and cash-flows between the two countries, and enhancing the role of Italian Banks in the region is now at hand. Moreover, Dr. Torbey revealed to Prime Minister Prodi the efforts the UAB has been putting forth to establish an Arab-Italian Union of Banks to consolidate the financial and banking cooperation between both Italy and the Arab countries.
