Chinese President Xi Jinping
complimented Italian Premier Matteo Renzi on his ambitious
programme of institutional and economic reforms Wednesday, while
Italian businesses signed deals during the trade mission to
China.
The premier met Xi in the second day of his visit to China
as part of an Asian tour aimed at boosting Italian trade and
Italian sources described their meeting.
Renzi became the first Italian premier to pay an official
visit to Vietnam on Monday and he will also take in Kazakhstan
during the tour.
Renzi has launched an ambitious reform programme since
toppling Enrico Letta, his colleague in the centre-left
Democratic Party (PD), to become Italy's youngest-ever premier
at 39 last February.
He has presented a plan to overhaul Italy's slow, costly
political apparatus, including a revamp of the Senate to turn it
into a leaner assembly of local-government representatives with
minimal law-making powers to save money and make passing
legislation easier.
The government has passed an 80-euro income-tax bonus for
low earners and started to change labour-market regulations in a
bid to combat unemployment, which has reached record levels of
close to 13%, with over four in 10 under-25s jobless as the
country struggles to recover from its longest postwar recession.
Renzi's executive also plans reforms to simplify Italy's
tax system, make the civil service more efficient and revamp the
country's snail-paced justice system.
Xi highlighted the importance of the partnership between
Italy and China at Wednesday's meeting and said he was certain
that Milan Expo 2015, which was recently hit by a corruption
scandal, would be a huge success, the sources said.
The Chinese president said he has visited several Italian
cities, including Rome, Naples and Renzi's native Florence, in
the past and added that Italy would be his top choice as a
foreign holiday destination.
Renzi responded by saying how much Italy respected China.
"We have to learn a lot from your capacity to plan and put
those plans into action," Renzi said, according to the sources.
Meanwhile, Italian electricity giant Enel energy signed two
deals with leading Chinese energy companies aimed at continuing
cooperation and development during Renzi's visit to Beijing.
Enel, one of Italy's biggest energy producers with an
international reach, signed the memo of understanding with China
Huaneng Group and the State-owned China National Nuclear
Corporation (CNNC) following a business forum in Beijing.
Francesco Starace, chief executive officer of Rome-based
Enel, signed the MOU that the company says will build on joint
work that began in 2009 in the field of carbon capture and
storage.
A second MOU signed by Starace with the CNNC involves
information-sharing and cooperation on development,
construction, operation and maintenance of nuclear power plants.
Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo also signed an agreement
Wednesday with the Agricultural Development Bank of China on
"cooperation that will promote relations between Italy and China
in the agricultural sector, in view of Expo 2015".
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