During her first official visit to Beijing since assuming office, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pledged to “relaunch” cooperation with China and signed a three-year action plan, according to Italian news agency ANSA.
Following its withdrawal from President Xi Jinping’s major Belt and Road infrastructure investment program last year, Rome is looking to strengthen trade ties with Beijing. Meloni made this remark during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
ANSA said that the Italian leader described her five-day visit as a “demonstration of the will to begin a new phase, to relaunch Italy-China bilateral cooperation”. She said that the action plan’s goal is to test out novel types of collaboration.
She also went to an Italy-China business summit, which was attended by a number of Italian luxury fashion brands including Dolce & Gabbana, wine makers, energy organization ENI, defense group Leonardo, and tire manufacturer Pirelli.
According to a video released by Meloni’s office, Chinese Premier Li stated at the forum’s opening that “China and Italy should adopt a win-win mentality and increase trade and investment cooperation, making cooperation even more dynamic and sustainable.”
Italy was the first nation outside of the Group of Seven to join the expansive Belt and Road Initiative in 2019, but it withdrew last year due to pressure from the United States over worries about Beijing’s economic sway.
Reiterating the value of commercial connections and “clarifying some misunderstandings” about Italy’s exit from the Belt and Road were the stated goals of the visit, according to Chinese state media.
In an attempt to entice a major manufacturer to Italy in addition to Stellantis (multinational automative manufacturing corporation), the Italian government is currently in talks with Chinese automakers.