NEW DELHI: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will on March 2 begin a state visit to India during which she will be the chief guest at the Raisina Dialogue and hold talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Meloni will be accompanied for her two-day visit by deputy prime minister Antonio Tajani and a high-power business delegation. This will be the first bilateral visit by a senior Italian leader since October 2018 when then PM Giuseppe Conte visited India.
She will be the chief guest and keynote speaker at the Raisina Dialogue, the country’s premier conference on geopolitics and geoeconomics.
The external affairs ministry said on Monday that Giorgia Meloni’s visit is expected to strengthen and deepen the relationship between India and Italy.
“Both sides will take stock of the progress on the key outcomes of the November 2020 Summit, strengthen security and defence cooperation, work towards closer economic ties, enhance opportunity for mobility of talent and give strategic guidance to ongoing collaboration in science and technology,” the ministry said.
Meloni will be accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhawan on March 2, following which she will hold talks with Modi on bilateral, regional and global issues.
She will also meet external affairs minister S Jaishankar and President Droupadi Murmu on March 2.
During the visit, Tajani, who is also the minister for foreign affairs and international cooperation, and commerce minister Piyush Goyal will co-chair a business roundtable on March 2.
India and Italy are currently celebrating 75 years of diplomatic relations. The external affairs ministry said the bilateral relationship is based on “shared cultural values, commitment to foster economic growth, collaboration in the fields of green energy, science and tech, defence and marked by convergence on regional and global issues”. The two sides are also cooperating closely in multilateral forums.
