Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with his Italian counterpart, Giorgia Meloni, on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Brazil. The meeting saw the two leaders strengthen the India-Italy Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025-29.
Significant outcomes include enhancing cooperation for the India Middle East Economic Corridor and Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative, working on migration and mobility, increasing interactions for Industry 4.0 and implementing the Executive Programme for Scientific and Technological Cooperation for 2025-27.
Aware of the unparalleled potential of the India Italy Strategic partnership PM Modi and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni during their meeting at the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil decided to give it further impetus through the following focused, time-bound initiatives and joint plan of strategic action.
Thus the two countries have launched initiatives to strengthen the relationship.
As per the Press Statement by MEA, these include continuing to hold yearly bilateral consultations between the Heads of Government, Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence, and intensifying meetings and interactions between the heads of other Ministries, to deepen cooperation in all sectors of common interest, at the political level.
At the level of Economic Cooperation and Investments, the two countries will leverage the work of the Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation and of the Italy-India Joint Working Group on Food Processing, to increase bilateral trade, market access and investment, especially in sectors with high potential such as transportation, agricultural products and machinery, chemical-pharmaceuticals, critical and emerging technologies, green technologies and sustainable mobility, amongst others. They will also promote industrial partnerships, technological centres and mutual investment, also in automotive, semiconductors, infrastructure and advanced manufacturing.
On the connectivity front, India and Italy will foster cooperation on sustainable transport and enhance collaboration in maritime and land infrastructure also in the framework of the India - Middle East - Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC) and conclude the Agreement on cooperation in the maritime and port sector.
In the field of science and innovation, the two friendly countries agreed to expand cooperation on critical and emerging technologies, forging technology value chain partnerships in both countries in sectors such as telecom, artificial intelligence, and digitalisation of services and exploring new avenues of cooperation in Industry 4.0, involving academia and industries, including SMEs and start-ups of the two countries.
In a significant development, it was noted that research and collaboration will increase within the context of the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), in areas of common interest and in the STEM domain.
The two countries have decided to initiate the Indo-Italian Innovation and Incubation Exchange Programme to leverage collective expertise and capacity for fostering scientific innovation and incubation ecosystems of academic and research institutions, the MEA noted.
Another milestone development agreed upon is that India and Italy will implement the Executive Programme for scientific and Technological Cooperation for the years 2025-27, which will be operationalised later this year, through which both sides will be co-founding significant research and mobility-based joint projects.
The MEA said that in the space sector, India and Italy will expand the cooperation between the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and organize, ideally by mid-2025, a mission to India by an Italian delegation of representatives of the space industry, with a focus on research, space exploration and commercial collaboration.
In the field of energy transition, the countries supported organising "Tech Summits" to share best practices and experiences, give further impetus to the Joint Working Group on Renewable Energy and work together to strengthen the Global Biofuels Alliance and International Solar Alliance.
On the defence and security front, the press statement by the MEA observed that the two countries ensured to hold on a yearly basis, Joint Defence Consultative (JDC) meetings and Joint Staff Talks (JST) to coordinate exchanges of information, visits and training activities.
The two countries will negotiate a Defence Industrial Roadmap, between the two Ministries of Defence and promote a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM) and the Italian Industries Federation for Aerospace, Defence and Security (AIAD).
India and Italy will also enhance security cooperation in areas such as cybersecurity and cybercrimes, and exchange updates on policies, practices and training opportunities.
Notably, the two decided to hold yearly bilateral meetings of the Joint Working Group on Combating International Terrorism and Transnational Crime and also concluded an agreement for the mutual protection and exchange of classified information.
In the sector of migration and mobility, the two countries agreed to promote safe and legal migration channels, as well as fair and transparent labour training and recruitment procedures.
On the front of improving the cultural ties between the two countries, it was decided to increase collaboration and exchanges between universities and give rise to film co-productions and filmmaking in their respective countries.
The two countries agreed to strengthen bilateral collaboration on preservation and restoration of old and heritage sites and buildings and work on implementing the Executive Programme of Cultural Cooperation signed in 2023.
PM Modi stated that their discussions focused on strengthening ties in defence, security, trade, and technology. He remarked, "India-Italy friendship can greatly contribute to a better planet". (ANI)
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