Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte holds his end-of-year news conference in Rome, Italy, December 28, 2018. REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi

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

“We are not in favor of the sale of these weapons and so now it is only a question of formalizing 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.