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Economic cooperation, maritime security tops agenda at Italian dy PM Antonio Tajani’s meetings
Tajani, who is also Italy’s foreign minister, is on his second visit to India this year, and is accompanied by a large business delegation
NEW DELHI: Maritime security, connectivity and closer economic cooperation topped the agenda for Italian deputy prime minister Antonio Tajani’s meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Indian leadership on Wednesday, people familiar with the matter said.
Tajani, who is also the foreign minister, is on his second visit to India this year. He is accompanied by a large business delegation, reflecting the importance attached by Italy to strengthening trade and investment ties with India. Besides Modi, Tajani also met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and external affairs minister S Jaishankar.
Connectivity, including the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), and maritime security came up in the meeting between Tajani and Modi, the people said on condition of anonymity. The Indian side also brought up the benefits of complementing India’s workforce and manufacturing capabilities with Italian technology, they said.
“Conveyed appreciation for the proactive steps being taken by both sides towards implementation of the Italy-India Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025-2029 across key sectors such as trade, investment, research, innovation, defence, space, connectivity, counter-terrorism, education and people-to-people ties,” Modi said on social media.
“India-Italy friendship continues to get stronger, greatly benefiting our people and the global community,” he said.
Jaishankar said on social media that he and Tajani reviewed progress across politics, defence, technology, innovation, maritime issues, mobility, space, trade, and investment under the India-Italy Joint Strategic Action Plan for 2025-29.
“Also appreciated joint efforts to counter terror financing,” Jaishankar said. “Dwelt on our cooperation with the EU, other regional, global and multilateral developments.”
The people said maritime security, especially the security of sea lanes of communication that are crucial to the trade of both countries, and closer cooperation in the Indo-Mediterranean space, figured in the discussions.
At the start of his talks with Tajani, Jaishankar said relations between the two sides were built on democratic values and a commitment to a stable, secure and prosperous world. He also thanked Tajani for the message of solidarity from the Italian government over the terror incident in New Delhi in November.
India and Italy also announced a joint initiative to counter terrorist financing during Modi’s meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on the sidelines of the G20 meeting. Jaishankar said India views Italy as one of its closest partners in counterterrorism, including on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).
In addition to people-to-people ties, Jaishankar and Tajani discussed regional and global issues, including the situation in West Asia and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Tajani is set to meet commerce minister Piyush Goyal in Mumbai on Thursday and Jaishankar noted that economic collaboration is a big part of the Joint Strategic Action Plan for 2025-29. “You have taken leadership in moving that,” he said.
Tajani told HT in an interview that Italy intends to increase bilateral trade to €20 billion by 2029, up from about €14 billion. He also spoke about increased cooperation in the “common Indo-Mediterranean area”, where the two sides have been connected by an intense exchange of trade, goods, skills and ideas.
