Italy holds significant importance for India in various ways. As one of Europe’s largest economies, Italy is a key partner for India in trade, investment, and cultural exchange. The two countries share strong diplomatic ties, with collaborations in the fashion, automobile, and food processing industries. Italy also plays a vital role in India’s global relations with the European Union, making it a strategic ally. Moreover, both nations benefit from tourism, education, and technological partnerships, strengthening their bilateral relationship. In short, Italy matters to India due to its economic, political, and cultural influence.
Tags: GS-2,
In news: Antonio Bartoli, Ambassador of Italy visited India recently to discuss bilateral cooperation and security ties.
About the context:
- In the era of global challenges or “polycrisis,” India and Italy converge their interests in the Indo-Mediterranean Sea region, which is an important place for global trade and digital connectivity.
- Italy is the world’s sixth largest exporter and is extra specially interested in restoring stability to the region.
- Some issues do indeed warrant Italy and India cooperating with each other, such as piracy, Gaza and Lebanon, and the Russia-Ukraine war with implications on trade.
Shared Interests of Italy and India in the Indo-Mediterranean Region:
- Italy and India have common strategic interests promoting security and prosperity in the Indo-Mediterranean region that are important for international trade and digital connectivity.
- This is to be stated despite the incoming Blue-Raman submarine data cables between Genoa and Mumbai, again reiterating the same importance.
- Both countries have piracy in the Red Sea, as well as the continuing Gaza and Lebanon conflicts, and the Russia-Ukraine war affects agricultural and oil trades.
Security and Naval Presence of Italy in the Area: Italy has been increasingly integrated into the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) and West Asia through:
- Joining the Group of Friends of UNCLOS in 2021.
- Acquiring the status as the second largest contributor to the EU Naval Force (EU NAVFOR) and the European Maritime Awareness in the Strait of Hormuz (EMASoH).
- Its objective, EUNAVFOR ASPIDES, which Italy had chaired since February 2024 and which aimed to be able to provide the guarantee of freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and the Gulf.
Key Attributes of Defence Relations Between Italy and India:
- The agreement signed last October 2023 expands the areas for cooperation in the area of defence research, industrial cooperation, maritime awareness, and environmental activities in military operations.
- The Italy-India Military Cooperation Group was held in March 2023. It was an example of such improvement in coordination and planning on the issues of defence.
- Other examples of collaborative defence-related interactions between Italian and Indian companies are the collaborations of Italian defence companies with Indian firms, especially to assist India’s Make in India program. Notable Italian defence companies are Fincantieri and Leonardo, which feature among the top 50 arms producers. Examples include Fincantieri collaborating with Cochin Shipyard from 2020.
- Italy is also conducting joint exercises (PASSEX) and hosting workshops on defence industrial cooperation with the naval visits.
- In 2019, Elettronica signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bharat Electronics Limited to support the development of cooperation in Defence Technology
Cooperation in Indian Ocean Region and Africa:
- Italy and India are strong advocates for African development and integration at international platforms. Italy and India together have pursued the inclusion of the African Union in the G20.
- The Mattei Plan of Italy includes the Africa investment program worth €5.5 billion, collaborative partnership development to be first focused on Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Mozambique—countries in the Indo-Mediterranean world.
- Italy will also support the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor, which will help in sustaining long-term economic growth through infrastructure development of railways, ports, and logistics systems.
- Italy views the future of IMEC as having a lot of depth for stability and prosperity in Europe, West Asia, and India, more so at a time when the whole region is facing troubled waters.
People-to-People Relations Between Italy and India:
- The country has the second-largest number of Indian diaspora residing in the European Union, which also shows that people-to-people ties between the two countries are really robust.
- These relations are based upon historical cultural exchange flows and have grown further in recent times through economic, cultural, and educational relationships .
- These ties form the backbone of a strong Italy-India tie that strengthens the overall diplomatic and strategic interactions between the two nations.
Future prospects to strengthen India-Italy ties:
- Strengthen trade ties, explore new investment opportunities, and promote economic cooperation.
- Reinforcing EU-India Relations would lead to the development of bilateral trade from India to Italy as part of a larger EU-India partnership.
- Team up in the global field to formulate a common agenda of the world.
Source: TH
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