"Thank you for the warm welcome".

The Italian Prime Minister,

Mario Draghi

, has been received with all honors in Algeria and has announced an energy alliance with the North African country that involves "increasing the export of gas to Italy".

The Italian thus achieves an extra order that has not been quantified, but which may represent 50% more than the current annual supply equivalent to all exports in the only gas pipeline that Algeria maintains open with Spain.

"Our governments have signed an agreement on bilateral cooperation in the energy sector in addition to the agreement between (the Italian hydrocarbons company) Eni and (the Algerian) Sonatrach

to increase the export of gas to Italy

," the prime minister said. Italian after his audience with the Algerian President,

Abdelmadjid Tebboune in a statement released by the Italian Government.

Draghi maintains a policy with Western Sahara that is different from that of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, as this newspaper has already published, in favor of respecting the rights of the Saharawi people and not expressly supporting its absorption by Morocco.

Sánchez cannot now visit Algiers like the Italian due to the open diplomatic crisis with that country after the lurch with Morocco.

The head of the Italian Government has an additional pressure that Sánchez lacks and that is Italy's strong dependence on Russian gas and the need to look for alternatives such as Algeria.

Algeria is today the second seller of gas to Italy, behind Russia, and

supplies 30% of the national consumption of the European country through the Transmed gas pipeline

, which has a potential capacity of close to 30,000 million cubic meters.

It currently exports 21,000 million and Italy wants 9,000 million more.

It is an amount equivalent to the one that transits annually through the Medgaz gas pipeline, which links Algeria with Spain and the only operation after the closure of the one that crosses Morocco.

In exchange for increased supply, Draghi has promised to invest and support Algeria in energy matters.

"

Italy is willing to work with Algeria to develop renewable energies and green hydrogen

. We want to speed up the energy transition and create opportunities for development and employment," said the Italian who has signed several agreements with the Algerian president.

The alliance is relevant, because Algeria has limited capacity to increase gas supplies to Europe, but Draghi secures an extra order for Italy.

In the images it can be seen that the Italian flag has been placed correctly at all times by the Algerian authorities in contrast to the controversial case of Spain during the recent visit of the Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, to Rabat.

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