2010 saw the establishment of our Middle East and Turkey Desk, with the aim of serving two purposes: firstly, to support Italian businesses in their international expansion towards the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) – namely, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar –  and towards Turkey, and secondly, to build a bridge between investors from those jurisdictions and Italy and reduce the effect of judicial, cultural and linguistic differences between them, thereby facilitating the establishment of their respective businesses.

The desk deals principally with matters relating to corporate and commercial law (particularly commercial and industrial joint ventures and mergers and acquisitions), project finance, real estate law, banking and finance law (particularly ECA facilities), and dispute resolution.

The professionals on the Middle East and Turkey Desk, in addition to having wide-ranging experience in the field, have published works on specific aspects of GCC-country legislation and are lecturers in Foreign Investment in GCC countries, both in professional legal associations and at the Nuovo Istituto di Business Internazionale (NIBI – Milan Chamber of Commerce) as part of its Mediterranean and Middle East Business Focus.

Head of the Middle East and Turkey Desk is Pavia e Ansaldo partner Daniele Carminati.