Bilateral Relations between India and Italy

In News 

• External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar held bilateral talks with visiting Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio in New Delhi. 

Major Highlights of the talks 

• They reviewed the full spectrum of bilateral relations including the progress in the implementation of the 2020-2024 Action Plan adopted at the Virtual Summit in November 2020.
• They also discussed the implementation of the India-Italy Strategic Partnership on Energy Transition announced in 2021 during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Italy. 
• They agreed to explore partnerships in areas such as gas transportation, green hydrogen, biofuels and energy storage. 
• They agreed to jointly organise an India – Italy Tech Summit on Energy Transition and Circular Economy, to be held in Delhi on 17th November.
• They also exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interests including Ukraine, Afghanistan and Indo-Pacific and cooperation in the multilateral forum including the G20.
  • India and Italy expressed their concern on the ongoing humanitarian crisis and called for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

• They also underlined the importance of safeguarding the international order based on the UN Charter, with special regard to the respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

India-Italy Bilateral Relations 

• Historical: 
  • India and Italy are ancient civilizations but young states (Italy having been reunified only in 1861). 
  • The classical languages, Sanskrit and Latin both belong to the Indo-European language family. 
  • People of these two ancient civilizations have known, interacted and traded with each other for over 2000 years. 
  • Italian port cities were important trading posts on the spice route. 
    • The Venetian merchant Marco Polo, during his travels to the east, also travelled to India in the 13th century and wrote about his Experiences.
• Political: 
  • Political relations between India and Italy were established in 1947. 
  • The two countries enjoy cordial relationships. There has been a regular exchange of visits at political and official levels between both countries.

• Trade and Investment:
  • Italy is among India’s top 5 trading partners in the EU. The balance of trade has been in India’s favour since the early eighties. 
  • The bilateral trade witnessed a strong growth till 2007, before the world-wide recession of 2008 led to a marked slowdown in the Italian economy, which had an adverse impact on the bilateral trade. 
  • India ranks 19th as the country of origin of Italian imports, accounting for 1.2% of Italian imports. 
  • Main items of Indian exports to Italy are ready-made garments, leather, iron ore, motor vehicles, textiles, chemicals, gems & jewellery.
  • Main items of import from Italy are general and special purpose machinery, machine tools, metallurgical products, and engineering items.

• Cultural Exchange:
  • The agreement for cultural cooperation was signed in 1976. 
  • It was replaced by a new Agreement in July 2004. 
  • The Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) between Italy and India entails exchange of students in language programmes as well as other academic courses.
  • The Embassy of India launched the year-long Festival of India in Italy ‘Srijan’ on 18 Jan 2021. 
    • The festival aims to connect with Italians and present to them an opportunity to experience the richness of India’s architecture, history, literature and languages. 

• Scientific Cooperation:

• An Agreement on S&T Co-operation has existed since 1978. 
  • The Agreement envisages three yearly action plans under which a maximum of thirty joint research projects can be undertaken. 
  • This agreement was replaced by one signed in Nov 2003.
• Some of the prime areas of joint research are Electronics, Biotechnology, Design Engineering Automotive Technologies, Energy, etc. 

• Defence:
  • Defence cooperation has traditionally been an important pillar of India-Italy relations. An MOU on Defence Cooperation was signed in November 1994.
  • The Indian Army has a historical connection with Italy.
  •  The 4th, 8th and 10th Indian Divisions, with more than 50,000 troops, played a significant role in one of the bitterest advances of the allied forces for the liberation of Italy in the Second World War.

• Indian Community:
  • The Indian community in Italy (estimated at 2.4 lakhs and 25000 PIOs) is the third largest community of Indians in Europe after the UK and the Netherlands.
  • According to official Italian data, there are 1.65 lakhs legal Indian migrants year 2020 (As per official data with the Italian Ministry of Labour and Social Policy: Year 2020) accounting 4.4% of the non-EU citizens and 5th largest foreign community in Italy. 

Source:IE