Later on Sunday, the two leaders attended the Italy-China Business Forum and announced six new agreements covering a range of sectors, including electric vehicles and renewable energy.
“The memorandum of industrial cooperation that we signed is an important step,” Meloni said at the forum. “It now includes strategic industrial sectors such as electric vehicles and renewable energy, areas where China has already long been at the cutting edge of technology.”
Meloni’s five-day visit comes months after Italy decided to withdraw from China’s signature global infrastructure project, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Italy became the first G7 country to sign up to the BRI in 2019, raising concerns from the United States and other European countries that it could give China control of critical technology and infrastructure.
But Meloni’s government has previously criticised the Belt and Road Initiative, calling it a “big mistake”. The government has begun talks with Beijing over a withdrawal in 2023.
Italy is China’s fourth-largest trading partner in the European Union and remains keen to pursue strong economic ties with Beijing.
“Chinese investment in Italy is about one-third of Italian investment in China,” Meloni said at the forum. “We hope that this gap will be closed in the right way.”
