Premier Giorgia Meloni told a press
conference after the G20 summit in India Sunday that she and
Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang had discussed deepening their
strategic partnership on the sidelines of the meet Saturday.
Observers have said Meloni is looking to bolster that
partnership as Italy pivots to seek a soft landing out of
China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive globe-spanning
scheme aiming to build a New Silk Road that Italy signed up for
in 2019, so far the only G7 country to do so, but is expected
not to renew at the end of this year, although parliament will
have the final say.
Meloni said Sunday that the government had been invited to the
upcoming Belt and Road Forum but she had not discussed this with
Li Saturday.
"The Italian government was invited to the Belt and Road Forum,
but yesterday we did not talk about it" with the Chinese
premier, she told the press conference at the end of the G20 in
New Delhi.
"We had a bilateral with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang, a
cordial and constructive dialogue on how we can deepen our
bilateral partnership.
Meloni said that she would visit China as soon as she had "more
elements" on the development of bilateral relations between the
two countries.
"The invitation is reiterated. At the outcome of these
evaluations we are making, I intend to maintain my commitment of
a visit to China," she said.
"It makes more sense to go to China when we will have more
elements on our bilateral cooperation and how to develop it,"
she said.
In other points, Meloni said the summit had succeeded and it was
not an easy edition.
"I want to reiterate my and Italy's congratulations to (Indian)
Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi for the success of this not easy
G20 edition," she said.
"Italy has offered cooperation to the Indian presidency from the
very beginning, especially because we continue to be convinced
that G20 is a strategic multilateral forum insofar as it allows
for dialogue with emerging countries and the global South".
The Italian prime minister also said the G20's final declaration
that irked Kyiv by condemning the use of force in Ukraine but
not citing Moscow by name was an important compromise.
"We worked for a declaration that had a specific reference to
Ukraine, it was not a foregone conclusion when you take into
account that the ministerials all ended without a final
declaration," she said.
"It is a compromise statement but I still consider it important
in this context."
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