Italy’s Meloni eyes boost in strong energy ties with Algeria

Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni is looking to boost already strong energy ties with Algeria to further wean Italy off Russian energy, a focus of her two-day visit to the North African nation starting on Sunday.
Russia’s war in Ukraine, which upset global strategic and economic dynamics, gave a new and urgent dimension to ties between Algiers and Rome, long dependent on Russian energy. Other European Union nations also have scrambled to find sources of replacement for Russian energy.
Italy and gas-rich Algeria now want to build on then Premier Mario Draghi’s successful initiatives last year to boost Algerian energy supplies to Italy and, an Algerian diplomat said, “push beyond that.”
Algeria has replaced Russia as Italy’s No. 1 energy supplier, sending natural gas via the Trans-Mediterranean pipeline.