ARABIA SAUDITA: CENT'ANNI Cooperazione, sicurezza, identità edited by di Roberto Aliboni and Daniela Pioppi n. 18, 2000, 251 p., ISBN 88-464-1929-4

This book is derived from the conference on "Italian-Saudi relations: development, cooperation and common interests, Europe and the Middle East", held in Rome on 4-5 March 1999 on the occasion of the centenary celebration of the founding of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and organised by the Istituto Affari Internazionali and the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Italy.

The Gulf War and the end of the Cold War changed the equilibria in the region, highlighting the need for an opening towards the European Union to balance the presence of the United States. Today, Saudi Arabia's new interest for Europe, and therefore also Italy, could pave the way for a broader Italian contribution to the country’s development.

Greater cooperation, however, calls for a more profound dialogue between Saudis and Europeans. This book, broken down into five sections, provides an overview of the points which Italy and Europe, on the one hand, and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on the other, have in common and those on which they contrast. The first section is dedicated to the history of the Kingdom and its relations with the West; the second to the country’s institutional and ideological development, from a Saudi point of view; the third section deals with the question of security in the Gulf, this being the subject on which there is the greatest accord between the Kingdom and the Western powers; the fourth is on relations between Islam and the West on a cultural plane and, finally, the fifth focuses on trade relations and, therefore, oil.

The works included in the book, especially in the sections of an ideologico-political or cultural nature are aimed at familiarising the Italian public with the little known Saudi point of view. The other sections, such as those on security and oil, offer a compendium of general interest strategic and trade subjects.