The two companies signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)on Monday during an Investment Forum between Italy and Saudi Arabia in Milan.

Under the MoU, ACWA plans to use De Nora's expertise in electrode technologies to speed up the production of green hydrogen and enhance water and wastewater disinfection technologies, the Italian firm said in a statement.

The partnership will help "minimising the CO2 footprint, granting easy and cost competitive access to clean water and green hydrogen" in line with Saudi Arabia's vast economic agenda to wean the economy off oil and known as 'Vision 2030', De Nora's executive Luca Buonerba said in the statement.

De Nora's and Thyssenkrupp's joint venture Thyssenkrupp Nucera provides the alkaline water electrolysis technology for the world's largest green hydrogen production plant under construction in NEOM, a huge economic zone in Saudi Arabia's northwest.

(Reporting by Alessandro Parodi, editing by Federico Maccioni and Louise Heavens)