India, Italy Seal Defence Partnership as Meloni Eyes Deeper Ties

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(Bloomberg) — Italy and India have announced a plan to cooperate on defence and energy as Giorgia Meloni seeks to boost business deals with the Asian giant.

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“We decided to become strategic partners as our relations are very solid,” Meloni said after a bilateral meeting with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi, the first state visit by an Italian premier in over four years. “Trade between India and Italy has more than doubled in two years and is at a record of €15 billion ($16 billion), but we are convinced we can do more,” Meloni said.

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Meloni’s decision to pick India as her first Asian trip since taking office shows her willingness to relaunch bilateral ties and to steer the nation closer to the West following a string of diplomatic incidents.

These have included New Delhi’s move to jail two Italian marines for allegedly killing unarmed fishermen off the southern Indian cost in 2012.

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The two countries are in talks to sign a defense cooperation agreement, following help by Italy’s Fincantieri to upgrade and enhance the capability of India’s first homemade aircraft carrier INS Vikarant.

A formal defense agreement boosts prospects for similar partnerships. Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh last month met Italian State Secretary for Defense Matteo Perego Di Cremnago in the southern Indian tech hub of Bengaluru.

Giorgia Meloni is the third Italian Prime Minister to visit India after Paolo Gentiloni in 2017 and Giuseppe Conte in 2018. The two leaders are also expected to share a stage at the Raisina Dialogue, the South Asian nation’s main security conference on geopolitics, where Meloni is the main guest.