Italy was the only G7 country to join the BRI.
New Delhi:
Leaving the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as Silk Road, will not endanger relations with China, but the decision has yet to be made, Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni said on Sunday, Italian media, the daily reported Corriere della Sera.
On the sidelines of the G20 summit, the Italian Prime Minister met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and shared her plan to withdraw from the BRI, according to an Italian media report.
During the press conference on the last day of the G20 summit, Georgia Meloni turned to talk about the conversation she had with the head of the Chinese government.
“A cordial and constructive dialogue on how to deepen our bilateral partnership… I intend to fulfill my promise to visit China… It will make more sense to go to China when we have more information about our bilateral cooperation and how we can develop.” it,” Georgia Meloni said at the conference.
“Abandoning the Silk Road will not endanger relations, but the decision has yet to be made,” the prime minister assured.
“The Italian government was invited to the Belt and Road Forum, but we didn’t talk about it yesterday,” Georgia Meloni said at the conference.
Earlier, the daily Corriere della Sera reported that the Prime Minister has announced her intention to end the strategic project for Beijing. However, Li Qiang made one last attempt to provoke a reconsideration from the Italian authorities.
It is pertinent to mention that Italy was the only G7 country to join the BRI, a global trade and infrastructure scheme modeled on the old Silk Road that linked imperial China to the West.
At the conference, Prime Minister Georgia Meloni also spoke about Africa, saying the country was central to the work of the G20. ‘We also consider this our success.’ Africa will also be one of the central issues we will bring to the conference. G7 (under Italian presidency) next year,” she added, according to Italian media.
The Italian Prime Minister, who arrived in India on Friday, held a bilateral meeting with her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi.
Notably, this is Prime Minister Georgia Meloni’s second visit to India after her state visit in March 2023, during which bilateral ties were elevated to the level of a Strategic Partnership.
The two leaders noted with satisfaction the completion of 75 years of diplomatic relations between the two countries. They also took stock of progress in various areas of the India-Italy Strategic Partnership and agreed to strengthen cooperation in areas such as defense and new and emerging technologies. They highlighted the need for the G7 and G20 to work together in harmony for the greater global good.
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