Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is scheduled to arrive Thursday at the head of a delegation of six ministers from Rome that will hold his country’s third annual government-to-government meeting with their Israeli counterparts.This will be Monti’s first visit to Israel since taking over as prime minister from Silvio Berlusconi last November.console.log("catid body is "+catID);if(catID==120){document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none";var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://player.anyclip.com/anyclip-widget/lre-widget/prod/v1/src/lre.js'; script.setAttribute('pubname','jpostcom'); script.setAttribute('widgetname','0011r00001lcD1i_12258'); document.getElementsByClassName('divAnyClip')[0].appendChild(script);}else if(catID!=69 && catID!=2){ document.getElementsByClassName("divConnatix")[0].style.display ="none"; var script = document.createElement('script'); script.src = 'https://static.vidazoo.com/basev/vwpt.js'; script.setAttribute('data-widget-id','60fd6becf6393400049e6535'); document.getElementsByClassName('divVidazoo')[0].appendChild(script); }Diplomatic officials said that the close relationship Jerusalem and Rome enjoyed under Berlusconi is continuing under Monti, with Italy considered among Israel’s closest friends in the EU, and a country which often comes to Israel’s support during deliberations on Israel and the Middle East inside the 27-member body.
Monti will be joined by Italy’s foreign, defense, justice, education and transportation ministers.
