Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni looks on as she is greeted by U.S. President Joe Biden (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, U.S., July 27, 2023. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo Acquire license rights
ROME, Sept 10 (Reuters) – Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Sunday that there is more to Italy’s relationship with China than the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), adding that a final decision on whether to abandon the BRI.
Italian media reported earlier in the day that Italy would abandon the BRI and instead seek revitalize a strategic partnership agreement with China, aimed at fostering economic cooperation, which it first signed in 2004.
Italy is the only G7 nation to have joined the BRI, a global trade and infrastructure plan inspired by the ancient Silk Road that linked imperial China and the West.
Italy will hold the G7 presidency next year and recasting its relationship with Beijing would appease its Western allies, who fear Chinese influence, while reducing the risk of a backlash from Beijing.
“There are European nations that in recent years have not been part of the Belt and Road but have been able to forge more favorable relations (with China) than we have sometimes achieved,” Meloni said at a news conference at the end of the G20. Summit of the world’s main economies in New Delhi.
Meloni met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of the G20 on Saturday and described the talks as civil and constructive.
“The question is how to ensure a partnership that is beneficial to both sides, leaving aside the decision we will make on the BRI,” he added.
Meloni said the Chinese had renewed an invitation for him to visit Beijing, but that no date had been set.
The Italian government has also been invited to a BRI Forum which China will host in October, he added.
Italian politicians have questioned the worth of the BRI agreement signed by a previous administration in 2019.
In its statement on Saturday, Meloni’s office mentioned the 20th anniversary next year of a separate Global Strategic Partnership signed by China and a government led by Silvio Berlusconi in 2004.
Reporting by Keith Weir and Giuseppe Fonte; editing by Mark Heinrich
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Discover more from PressNewsAgency
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.