Italy's Meloni meets with China's Li as Italy's continued participation in 'Belt and Road' in doubt
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni has met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of the G20 summit
ROME — Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of the G20 summit and vowed Saturday to “consolidate and deepen” relations, as Rome considers abandoning Beijing’s “Belt and Road” initiative of Chinese-built and -funded infrastructure projects.
Neither government mentioned the initiative in brief statements after the meeting in New Delhi, the first between Meloni and Li.
Rather, Meloni’s office said the meeting “confirmed the common intention to consolidate and deepen the dialogue between Rome and Beijing on the principal bilateral and international questions.”
Italy became the first G7 country to sign on to the initiative in 2019, when the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement was in power. Meloni at the time voiced strong opposition and her right-wing government now in power has indicated it wants to abandon the initiative, which must be renewed by the end of the year.
At the same time, though, Italy is keen to pursue an otherwise strong economic relationship with Beijing, and Meloni has acknowledged that the issue is delicate and must be managed carefully, given the bilateral trade and international implications.
China has tried to tout the benefits of the accord, with Foreign Minister Wang Yi telling his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani just last week in Beijing that bilateral trade had grown from $50 billion to nearly $80 billion and that Italy’s exports to China increased by around 30% over the past five years.
Tajani, however, said in recent days that “we haven't obtained great results” from the deal, while stressing that Italy was still intent on reinforcing trade.
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