JUN 15, 2024 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a bilateral meeting with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on the sidelines of the G7 Summit here on Friday night and discussed defence and security cooperation between the two countries. “The two sides discussed bilateral defence and security cooperation and hoped for further enhancing the defence industrial collaboration.They welcomed the forthcoming visit of the Italian aircraft carrier ITS Cavour and training ship ITS Vespucci to India later this year,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in an official release. Moreover, PM Modi also thanked the Italian Government for recognising the Indian Army’s contribution to the Italian Campaign during World War II and informed that “India will be upgrading the Yashwant Ghadge Memorial at Montone in Italy.” PM Modi and his Italian counterpart noted with satisfaction the regular higher political dialogue and reviewed the progress of the India-Italy Strategic Partnership. “While expressing happiness at growing trade and economic collaboration, they called for expanding commercial ties in clean energy, manufacturing, Space, S&T, telecom, AI and critical minerals to build resilient supply chains. In this context, they welcomed the recent signing of a MoU on Industrial Property Rights (IPR) which provides a framework for cooperation on patents, designs and trademarks,” the MEA release read. Meanwhile, during the meeting, both leaders welcomed the signing of the Letter of Intent for Cooperation in Energy Transition, which will boost bilateral cooperation in clean and green energy. It was taken note of under the ‘Global Biofuels Alliance’. “They expressed happiness at the new Executive Programme of Cooperation for 2025-27 to promote joint research and development in Science and Technology,” the MEA said. Notably, PM Modi attended the G7 Summit in Apulia, Italy, at the invitation of Italian PM Meloni. “Thanked her for inviting India to be a part of the G7 Summit and for the wonderful arrangements,” PM Modi later wrote on X. “We discussed ways to further cement India-Italy relations in areas like commerce, energy, defence, telecom and more. Our nations will work together in futuristic areas like biofuels, food processing and critical minerals,” he added. PM Meloni also congratulated PM for his third consecutive term as Prime Minister. The G7 summit is being held from June 13-15 in Italy’s Apulia region, where India has been invited as an ‘Outreach Country’ to the summit and has participation from the seven member countries, the US, UK, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, and France, as well as the European Union. India and Italy enjoy strong people-to-people connect propelled by the longstanding Indological Studies tradition in Italy, which will be further strengthened with the establishment of the first ICCR chair on India studies at the University of Milan. “The two leaders called for an early implementation of the Migration and Mobility Agreement, which would facilitate the mobility of professionals, skilled and semi-skilled workers, students, and researchers,” according to the MEA release. “Both leaders look forward to joint activities to be implemented under the Indo-Pacific Ocean Initiative framework to fulfill their shared vision for a free and open Indo-Pacific,” it added. They also discussed important regional and global issues and agreed to strengthen cooperation in global fora and multilateral initiatives, including the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
