Lebanon’s prime minister urged his Italian counterpart on Thursday to have Italian companies invest in his country as it grapples with deepening economic challenges, AP reported.

“The coming period in Lebanon is a period of work ... with many investment opportunities,” Saad Hariri told visiting Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

Conte is the first foreign official to visit Lebanon after Hariri’s government was sworn in last week following a deadlock that last nearly nine months.

Italy also supports Lebanese military and security forces and has over 1,000 peacekeepers in the U.N. force monitoring the cease-fire with Israel.

Conte said he discussed with Hariri the recent tension along the frontier with Israel, which said it had discovered a number of attack tunnels built by Lebanese Hezbollah and added hopes that dialogue would alleviate the tensions.

He also declared Italy would continue its support to the Lebanese government which is dealing with more than 1 million Syrian refugees, in a country of 4 million people.

Hariri expressed optimism that “Lebanon can be a regional center for the Italian private sector.”