Italy PM backs halting arms sales to Saudis

ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Friday his government was in favour of halting arms sales to Saudi Arabia and it intended to take a formal position on the matter.

"We are not in favour of the sale of these weapons and so now it is only a question of formalising this position and acting accordingly," Conte told reporters at the prime minister's traditional end-year news conference.

He was answering a question on Italy's ongoing arms exports to Saudi Arabia in the light of its involvement in the conflict in Yemen and the murder of journalist Jamal Kashoggi.

(Reporting by Valentina Za, writing by Gavin Jones)