Italian FM travels to China to strengthen trade ties

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani is in China to ‘strengthen trade ties’ or maintain as optimal relations as possible with China even in the event that the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is not renewed.

Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani (FI/EPP) let it slip that his trip to China aimed at “strengthening trade ties”, or rather maintaining as optimal relations as possible with China even if the BRI is not renewed.

“Although we have different visions on some issues and have not achieved much with the new Silk Road, we want to strengthen trade ties with China, which is a key interlocutor of ours, and we believe it can also play an important role in pro-peace talks in Ukraine”, Tajani said.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government will have to decide soon whether or not to renew the BRI (also known as the Silk Road) – the trade Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with China, which has dozens of agreements between institutions and businesses and aims to strengthen political and trade relations with Italy.

The parties that make up the current Italian government – Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia (ECR), Tajani’s Forza Italia (EPP) and Salvini’s Lega (ID) – have repeatedly expressed misgivings about the agreement but without ever taking definitive positions on the possibility of renewing it for another five years (the agreement expires in March 2024 and any waiver of renewal must be communicated three months in advance).

In Beijing on Monday, the minister co-chaired with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi the 11th plenary session of the Italy-China Intergovernmental Committee, the first to be held since 2020.

“Thanks to the effort of the parties of the two countries, bilateral relations have developed well. Contacts between Xi, Meloni and Mattarella have set the direction of relations and consolidated mutual trust”, said Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, stressing that the “two major economic powers” will need to “consolidate and deepen” the strategic partnership.

“Our attitude of stabilising growth and promoting openness is very clear. China is ready to import more Italian products that meet Chinese demands and offer facilities to Italian enterprises that want to invest in China through concrete measures. We hope that the Italian side can create a fair, transparent, open and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises”, he added.

Meloni recently told Il Sole 24 Ore that she did not foresee any complications in bilateral relations with China: “Between Rome and Beijing, relations are ancient, and there are great and mutual conveniences, not only in the commercial sphere,” she said.

(Federica Pascale | EURACTIV.it)