Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni pledged on Sunday to “relaunch” cooperation with China as she signed a three-year action plan during her first official visit to Beijing since taking office.
This came during Meloni’s meeting with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, as Rome seeks to improve its trade relations with Beijing after it withdrew last year from the Belt and Road Initiative launched by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Meloni said her five-day visit was “proof of the will to start a new phase and relaunch our bilateral cooperation.”
She added, in a video clip shown on the Italian state television network “Rai”, that the action plan aims to experiment with new forms of cooperation.
Meloni said later in the day that the industrial cooperation memorandum signed by Italy and China “includes strategic industrial sectors such as electric mobility and renewable energy.”
Meloni will later meet with President Xi and other officials.
Meloni also took part in the Italy-China Business Forum, to which Italian companies including tyre maker Pirelli, energy company Eni and defence company Leonardo were invited.
Meloni said the forum “gives another signal of mutual interest… to achieve more balance between our interests and our trade exchanges.”
“China and Italy should adopt a win-win mentality and increase trade and investment cooperation, making cooperation more effective and sustainable,” the Chinese premier said at the opening of the forum.
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