Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni vowed on Sunday to “relaunch” cooperation with China, signing a three-year action plan during her first official visit to Beijing since taking office.
Ms Meloni, who leads a right-wing government from 2022, made the announcement during a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang as Rome seeks to improve trade ties with Beijing after walking away from President Xi Jinping's initiative, “A Generation One Road”, last year.
The Italian prime minister said her five-day trip was an “indication of the will to start a new phase, to restart bilateral cooperation. The action plan aims to experiment with new forms of cooperation,” she added.
Later in the day Mrs. Meloni said that a cooperation memorandum signed between the two countries includes strategic industrial sectors, such as electric vehicles and renewable energy.
In a statement issued by his office, Chinese Premier Li Qiang noted “mutual benefit in cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises in the fields of shipbuilding, aerospace, new energy, artificial intelligence.”
'Clarification of Misconceptions'
In 2019, Italy became the only country of the world's Group of Seven most industrialized nations to join the One Belt One Road initiative, but withdrew last year under pressure from the United States over concerns about Beijing's economic overreach. .
Ms Meloni's government said the deal had not benefited Italy, whose $80 billion (66.8 billion euros) worth of trade with China in 2023 has been heavily skewed in Beijing's favor. China is Italy's largest trading partner outside the EU, after the United States.
Chinese state media said the trip was aimed at “clarifying some misunderstandings” regarding Italy's withdrawal from the “One Belt One Road” initiative and emphasizing the importance of economic ties.
Italian foreign direct investment in China amounts to 16 billion dollars (15 billion euros) and more than 1,600 Italian companies are active, especially in the textile industry, mechanical engineering, pharmaceuticals, the energy sector and heavy industries.
However, Italy supported the European Commission's decision to impose temporary tariffs of up to 37.6 percent on electric vehicles imported from China. Beijing reacted angrily and said it had launched investigations into alcohol and pork imported from Europe.
G7 member countries, including Italy, pledged last month to continue to protect their businesses from what they consider China's unfair trade practices.
