FALCON POWERS – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Sunday “pledged 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 Qiang, with Rome seeking to improve its trade relations with Beijing after it withdrew last year from China’s Belt and Road Initiative launched by President Xi Jinping. Meloni said her five-day visit was “a sign of the will to start a new phase and relaunch our bilateral cooperation.” She added in a video clip aired by state broadcaster Rai that the action plan aims to experiment with new forms of cooperation.
Meloni later said 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 Xi and top Chinese legislator Zhao Leji.
Meloni also participated in the Italy-China Business Forum, which featured Italian companies including tire maker Pirelli, energy firm Eni, and defense company Leonardo.
Meloni said the forum “sends another signal of mutual interest… to achieve more balance between our interests and trade exchanges.”
Li said in opening the forum that “China and Italy need to adopt a mutually beneficial mindset and increase trade and investment cooperation, making the cooperation more effective and sustainable.”
