Backing India for the leadership of the Global South, visiting Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday that Delhi — which is holding the G-20 presidency — may play a “central role” in “facilitating the negotiation process for cessation of hostilities” between Russia and Ukraine.
Meloni, who met Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, said Italy will extend a “helping hand” to India, which can “very well represent” the countries of the Global South. The community of developing and less-developed countries in the world are commonly referred to as Global South.
Modi, on his part, said that India was fully prepared to contribute to the peace process to find a solution to the Ukraine conflict.
“From the very beginning of the Ukraine conflict, India has made it clear that this dispute can only be resolved through dialogue and diplomacy. India is fully prepared to contribute to any peace process,” he said.
Modi said he and the Italian Prime Minister voiced concerns over the adverse impact the Ukraine conflict has had on developing countries. He said all countries have been impacted by the food, fertiliser and fuel crisis triggered by the conflict.
“Especially, developing countries have been affected adversely. We voiced our concerns on these issues and stressed on joint efforts to address them,” Modi said.
He also said that India and Italy have decided to elevate the ties to the level of strategic partnership and identified defence as one of the areas where they can start a “new chapter”.
He said that the opportunities for “co-production” and “co-development” in defence manufacturing can be beneficial for both countries.
Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said, “With the legacy issues behind us, the door is now open for industries to cooperate more strongly, particularly in the field of manufacturing, co-production, co-design and co-innovation.”
India and Italy went through a rough patch over two Italian marines being jailed for allegedly killing unarmed fishermen off the southern Indian coast in 2012 and the controversial deal to buy AgustaWestland helicopters for VVIPs. India, which had blacklisted Italian defence company Leonardo (which was earlier Finmeccannica), lifted the ban in 2021.
In this context of defence cooperation, the two sides agreed to have joint exercises and training courses between the Armies of the two countries.
Kwatra also said the two leaders agreed to expand cooperation in the field of space and welcomed bilateral exchanges and took stock of the wide potential of possible joint research projects in areas such as remote sensing, satellite communication, lunar exploration, gravitational wave detection and practical applications of space technology between ISRO and ASI, Italy.
“India and Italy support each other in their fight against terrorism and separatism,” Modi said.
The Prime Minister also said they want to give a fillip to the economic ties and announced a “Startup Bridge” between the two countries.
“We discussed strengthening cooperation between the two countries on renewable energy, green hydrogen, IT, semiconductors, telecom and space,” he said.
India and Italy also signed a Declaration of Intent on migration and mobility and inked a memorandum of understanding between Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkata, and Italian Consulate General; and Morarji Desai Institute of Yoga and Sarva Yoga International, Italy.
Meloni underlined that this was her first bilateral visit to the region and she wanted to give a boost to the economic ties between the two countries.
Meloni, who is on a state visit to India seeking closer ties in the defence and economic sectors, She accorded a ceremonial welcome at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Thursday.
She was received at the airport by Minister of State for Health Bharati Pawar.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Prime Minister of Italy Giorgia Meloni during their joint press statement after a meeting at the Hyderabad House, in New Delhi, Thursday, March 2, 2023. (PTI Photo/Vijay Verma) 
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