Meloni’s five-day visit comes months after Italy withdrew from China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
advertisementItaly and China signed a three-year action plan on Sunday to implement past agreements and experiment with new forms of cooperation, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said during an official visit to the Chinese capital.
Meloni is trying to reset ties with China amid a mix of fears of a trade war with the European Union and continued interest in attracting Chinese investment in auto manufacturing and other sectors.
“Certainly there is much work to be done, but I am convinced that this work will be beneficial in such a complex context at the global level and is also important at the multilateral level,” she said in opening remarks at a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.
Her five-day visit comes months after Italy withdrew from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, a signature policy of Chinese President Xi Jinping to build power and transport infrastructure around the world to stimulate global trade and deepen China’s ties with other countries.
Still, Italy is keen to pursue stronger economic ties with China. Stellantis, Italy’s largest automaker, whose biggest player is Fiat, said in May it was forming a joint venture with Chinese electric-vehicle startup LeapMotor to start selling electric vehicles in Europe.
After his meeting with Meloni, Premier Li told Italian and Chinese business leaders that China’s efforts to upgrade its economy will increase demand for quality products and provide greater opportunities for cooperation between companies from the two countries.
Responding to a common complaint from companies operating in the world’s second-largest economy, the prime minister promised to further open up the Chinese market, ensure foreign companies receive equal treatment to their Chinese counterparts and create a transparent and predictable business environment.
“At the same time, we hope the Italian side will work with China to provide a more fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese enterprises doing business in Italy,” he said.
Meloni told business leaders that the two sides had signed memorandums of understanding on industrial cooperation including on electric vehicles and renewable energy, describing these as “areas where China has already been operating at the technological frontier for some time and sharing new knowledge frontiers with its partners.”
