ROME, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said the Italian government is working to diversify energy sources and negotiating agreements with Algeria and Libya on renewable energy development and with Tunisia on green hydrogen.

Di Maio’s comments came at the 13th MAECI (Foreign Ministry)-Bank of Italy Joint Conference.

“At the multilateral level, we work closely with countries of the European Union and the members of the International Energy Agency,” said Di Maio.

Di Maio stressed the need “to accelerate the diversification process”.

He said the Italian government has mobilised, and the foreign ministry “is on the front line.” “In recent weeks, in synergy with Eni and its CEO Claudio Descalzi, we went to Algeria, where those we met with expressed willingness and readiness to increase the supply of natural gas to Italy and Europe; and to Qatar, where we discussed the supply of Liquid Natural Gas, of which Doha is our main supplier,” Di Maio said.

“We just returned from Congo and Angola a few hours ago, where we examined prospects for enhanced energy cooperation with the respective authorities”, he said.

Source: ANSA News Agency