India, Italy reaffirm commitment to advance strategic partnership as PM Modi, Meloni meet in Rio

Rio de Janeiro, Nov 19 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni acknowledged the significant potential of the India-Italy Strategic Partnership at the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. 

During their bilateral meeting on Monday, both leaders agreed to strengthen their collaboration and outlined a series of targeted, time-sensitive initiatives, along with a joint strategic action plan to advance this partnership, the Prime Minister's Office said in a statement.

Prime Minister Modi's talks with Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni focused on enhancing the partnership between New Delhi and Rome in several important sectors.

"Glad to have met Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on the sidelines of the Rio de Janeiro G20 Summit. Our talks centred around deepening ties in defence, security, trade and technology. We also talked about how to boost cooperation in culture, education and other such areas. India-Italy friendship can greatly contribute to a better planet," the PM detailed.

Italian PM Meloni also took to X and posted, "Always a great pleasure to meet the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, also on this occasion of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro."

"A precious opportunity for dialogue that allowed us to reaffirm our common commitment to advance the India-Italy strategic partnership, with the announcement of a joint strategic action plan 2025-29 in key sectors such as trade and investment, science and technology, new and emerging technologies, clean energy, space, defence, connectivity," she continued.

"Together we expressed our desire to continue working together to further deepen our bilateral partnership for the benefit of the economies and citizens of both nations and in support of the shared values ​​of democracy, rule of law and sustainable development," the Italian PM added.

Italy and India agreed on the following:

1. Political Dialogue

a. Maintain meetings and reciprocal visits, on a regular basis, between Heads of Government, Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Defence, including on the sidelines of multilateral events.

b. Continue to hold yearly bilateral consultations between the two Foreign Ministries at the Senior Officials' level, including Foreign Office Consultations.

c. Intensify meetings and interactions between the heads of other Ministries to deepen cooperation in all sectors of common interest.

2. Economic Cooperation and Investments

a. 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 potentials such as transportation, agricultural products and machinery, chemical-pharmaceuticals, wood and furniture, critical and emerging technologies, food processing, packaging and cold chain, green technologies and sustainable mobility, including through co-development and co-production and joint ventures between large companies and SMEs.

b. Promote participation in trade fairs and periodic business fora, with the involvement of industrial and economic associations and chambers of commerce.

c. Promote industrial partnerships, technological centres and mutual investment also in automotive, semiconductors, infrastructure and advanced manufacturing.

3. Connectivity

a. Foster cooperation on sustainable transport in the context of environmental sustainability and climate change.

b. 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.

4. Science, Technology, IT, Innovation and Start-ups

a. 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.

b. Explore new avenues of cooperation in Industry 4.0, advanced manufacturing, clean energy, critical minerals extraction and refining, involving academia and industries, including SMEs and start-ups of the two countries.

c. Taking into account Italy's and India's national research priorities, enhance innovation and research collaborations, also within the context of the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), in areas of common interest.

d. Increase educational and research opportunities, especially in the STEM domain, also focusing attention on scholarships while fostering collaboration between leading scientific organisations and joint projects.

e. Foster interaction between start-ups and the relevant innovation ecosystems of the two countries. Focusing on, inter alia, fintech, edtech, health care, logistics and supply chain, agritech, chip design and green energy.

f. 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.

g. Acknowledge the legacy of the Executive Programme of Cooperation that could be enriched by new bilateral instruments for cooperation.

h. Implement the Executive Programme for scientific and technological cooperation for the years 2025-27, to be operationalised later this year, through which both sides will be co-founding significant research and mobility-based joint projects.

5. Space Sector

a. Expand the cooperation between the Italian Space Agency (ASI) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to include projects of common interest in Earth observation, heliophysics and space exploration with emphasis on lunar science.

b. Enhance cooperation in advancing respective vision, research and development in peaceful and sustained use of outer Space.

c. Explore and facilitate mutual commercial space collaboration involving large industries, MSMEs and start-ups.

d. Organise, 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.

6. Energy Transition

a. Organise "Tech Summits" to share best practices and experiences, promote knowledge of each other's industrial ecosystems, and facilitate industrial partnerships.

b. Facilitate technology advancements and joint R&D collaborations.

c. Give further impetus to the Joint Working Group on Renewable Energy to facilitate the aforementioned cooperation in green hydrogen, biofuels, renewables and energy efficiency.

d. Work together to strengthen the Global Biofuels Alliance and International Solar Alliance.

e. Share information on innovative grid development solutions and regulatory aspects related to renewable energy.

7. Defence Cooperation

a. Ensure the regular holding, on a yearly basis, of Joint Defence Consultative (JDC) meetings, as well as Joint Staff Talks (JST) to coordinate exchanges of information, visits and training activities.

b. Welcome interactions between respective Armed Forces in the framework of Italy's growing interest in the Indo-Pacific Region, aimed at increasing interoperability and cooperation, including negotiations of any useful arrangement supporting such interactions.

c. Explore avenues of enhanced partnerships and dialogue among public and private stakeholders, focusing on technology collaboration, co-production and co-development of defence platforms and equipment.

d. Enhance maritime cooperation, including in the field of maritime pollution response and maritime search and rescue.

e. 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).

f. Hold regular interactions in defence research involving scientists and technical experts from both sides.

8. Security Cooperation

a. Enhance security cooperation through regular exchanges and capacity-building activities in specific areas, such as cybersecurity and cybercrimes.

b. Hold sector-specific talks such as cyber dialogue, exchange updates on policies, practices and training opportunities, and hold consultations regarding cooperation in multilateral forums when appropriate.

c. Continue to hold yearly bilateral meetings of the Joint Working Group on Combating International Terrorism and Transnational Crime.

d. Strengthen cooperation in the fight against terrorism at the bilateral, regional and international forums. Based on the spirit of this cooperation, both sides agree to:

i. Strengthen cooperation in judicial matters and between respective police and security personnel, including through capacity-building programmes;

ii. Share information and best practices in the fight against terrorism.

e. Conclude an agreement for the mutual protection and exchange of classified information.

9. Migration and Mobility

a. Promote safe and legal migration channels, as well as fair and transparent labour training and recruitment procedures. A pilot project will cover the training of health professionals in India and their subsequent employment in Italy.

b. Enhance cooperation to counter the facilitation of irregular migration.

c. Increase mobility of students, researchers and academics also by concluding agreements between the respective Administrations in charge of higher education.

10. Culture, Academic and People-to-People Exchanges, Cinema and Tourism

a. Increase collaboration and exchanges between universities and higher education institutions of the two countries, as well as cooperation in the field of technical and vocational education.

b. Promote exhibitions and cultural initiatives to deepen mutual knowledge, also through the establishment of partnerships between museums.

c. Work on increasing film co-productions and filmmaking in their respective countries.

d. Strengthen bilateral collaboration on the preservation and restoration of old and heritage sites and buildings.

e. Foster connections and tourist flows in both directions.

f. Acknowledge the contribution of the vibrant Indian and Italian communities in promoting bilateral and cultural ties and long-standing bonds of friendship.

g. Work on implementing the Executive Programme of Cultural Cooperation, signed in 2023.