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Political relations between India and Italy were established in 1947. There has been a regular exchange of visits at political and official levels between both countries. Over the past few years there have been several visits at the Prime Ministerial level, EAM level, Commerce Minister, Agriculture Minister, Health and so on, with several MoUs being signed during these visits. From the Indian side, at the level of Head of State/Government, the visit(s) date back to 1953 & 1955 when Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited Italy, Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi in November 1981; President Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma in October 1996; Prime Minister Shri H.D. Deve Gowda in November 1996; Prime Minister Shri I.K. Gujral in September 1997; Prime Minister Shri A.B. Vajpayee in June 2000; Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in July 2009 and Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi in October 2021 to participate in the G20 Leaders Summit in Rome. From the Italian side, the first visit at the level of Head of State/Government took place in 1988 when Prime Minister Mr. Giovanni Goria visited India, followed by President Dr. Oscar Luigi Scalfaro in Feb 1995; Prime Minister Prof. Romano Prodi in Jan 1998; President Mr. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in Feb 2005; Prime Minister Mr. Romano Prodi in Feb 2007; Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni in October 2017 and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in October 2018. Both countries regularly hold an institutionalized Senior Officials Dialogue (Foreign Office Consultations) which was recently held in Rome on 14 February, 2022.
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Year 2011 was marked by visit of then EAM Shri SM Krishna to Italy to participate in the 150th anniversary celebrations of Italy’s unification. The same year MOS (External Affairs) also visited Italy to meet Indian Business community and had Bilateral Talks with Italian counterpart. In 2012, Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Terzi visited India and held bilateral discussions with EAM and CIM. Home Minister, Shri Sushil kumar Shinde visited Rome from 4-5 November 2012 to participate in the triennial Interpol Ministerial Meeting. The then EAM, Smt. Sushma Swaraj led an official delegation for the Canonization ceremony of Mother Teresa at the Vatican from 2-5 Sept 2016. During her visit, she met then Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentiloni. In 2018, both countries celebrated the 70th Anniversary of the establishment of Diplomatic relations through a series of cultural events. EAM Dr. S. Jaishankar visited Rome on 06-08 December 2019 to attend MED Conference and met Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on the margins of the Conference. EAM also attended the MED 2020 on 04 Dec 2020 in virtual format. EAM also participated in the G20 Foreign Ministers meeting in Matera in June, 2021.
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An Italy-India Parliamentary Friendship Association under the IPU Italy Chapter was established in 2004 with Senator Maria Claudia Lannucci as President. The reconstituted Italy-India Parliamentary Friendship Association, under Mr. Sandro Gozi, MP, visited India in December 2011. In 2019, Italian Parliament constituted an Italy-India Parliamentary Friendship Group. Presided by former Defence Minister Senator Roberta Pinotti, Group was a cross-party grouping of 17 Senators and Deputies. On 02 October 2019, 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi was celebrated in the Senate with the participation of Speaker Elisabetta Casellati, Senator Pinotti and other MPs and guests. The second India-Italy Parliamentary Interaction was held on March 22, 2021, which was the first ever virtual interaction for Indian Parliamentarians.
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PM Modi and PM Conte co-chaired a Virtual Summit between India and Italy on 06 November 2020 and held extensive talks on bilateral, regional and global issues. 2020-2025 Action Plan was adopted that set an ambitious agenda for an enhanced Partnership between the countries. A total of 15 MoUs covering areas like energy, media, finance, ship building were signed.
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PM Modi paid his first official visit to Italy in October 2021 to attend the G20 Summit at the invitation of PM Draghi. On the sidelines of the Summit, PM held bilateral meeting with PM Draghi. The two sides exchanged views on bilateral relations as well as international and regional issues of mutual interest. A Joint Statement announcing a Strategic Partnership on Energy Transition was issued and a Statement of Intent on Textiles cooperation was released.
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As a prelude to the G20 Summit in Italy in 2021, there were several visits by Indian Cabinet Ministers for G20 ministerial meetings- two by External Affairs Minister (June and October 2021), two by Commerce and Industry Minister (Oct 2021), Finance Minister (Oct 2021), and Health Minister (Sept 2021). Hon’ble Speaker of Lok Sabha visited Italy for P20 in October 2021. Many other ministers attended G20 Ministerial virtually.
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The then Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio paid a bilateral visit to India from 4-6 May, 2022 and held bilateral meetings with EAM and CIM. Business round table was also held in which top Italian and Indian CEO participated. In September 2022, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas Shri Hardeep Singh Puri participated in the 50th edition of Gastech Conference in Milan.
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With a bilateral trade of USD 13.229 bn in 2021-22, which is 53.86% increase over the previous financial year, Italy is India's 4th largest trading partner in EU, after Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. India ranks 15th as country of origin of Italian imports, accounting for 1.5% of Italian imports. The top items of exports from India to Italy are: organic basic product, clothing, precious metals and other non precious metals, pharmaceuticals, dyes, pigments and yarns, Motor Vehicles & Parts, Refined petroleum Products etc.
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Indian companies in Italy are mainly in IT, electronics and engineering sectors. Prominent ones are: Titagarh Industries, TCS, Mahindra, Ranbaxy, Bombay Rayon, Zydus Cadila, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Aurobindo Pharma Italia, Himatsingka Seide, Varroc Group, Endurance Technologies, Gammon, ABG Group, Aditya Birla, Raymond Zambaiti, Sun Pharma etc. Over 600 large Italian companies are active in India, covering varied sectors such as fashion and garments, textiles and textile machinery, automotive and automotive components, infrastructure, chemicals, energy, confectionery, insurance, etc.
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Four Italian banks have representation in India (namely Banco BPM, Intesa Sanpaolo, Monte dei Paschi di Siena – MPS, Unicredit Group). Banca Nazionale del Lavoro-BNL is now part of the French group BNP Paribas. Top sectors attracting FDI inflows from Italy are Automobile Industry/Transportation, Food Processing, Metallurgical Industry, Textiles, Electrical Equipment and Others.
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Italy ranks 17th in FDI inflows in India during April 2000 to June 2022 with FDI inflow of US $ 3.20 bn during this period. The top sectors attracting FDI - Automobile (29.8%), Trading (17.1%), Industrial Machinery (5.6%), Services (5.1 %), Electrical Equipment (4.6%). The stock of Overseas Direct Investment from India to Italy up to 2021 is at the level of US$ 401 million. (source: Italian National Institute of Statistics {ISTAT})
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Indo-Italian Joint Economic Commission Cooperation (JCEC) has been in existence since 1976. The 21st JCEC, held in virtual mode on 9 July 2021, was co-chaired by CIM Shri. Piyush Goyal and FM Mr. Luigi Di Maio. Both sides held extensive discussions on bilateral trade and Investment and economic cooperation in the areas of Food Processing, Textiles, Leather, Railways, Start-ups and promotion of SMEs. Following the JCEC, a session on energy transition was organized which was attended by the CEOs of three major Italian and three major Indian companies operating in the sector.
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On October 28, 2020 the first ‘Indo-Italian High-Level Dialogue on Economical relations’ an initiative promoted by AIICP (India-Italy Association for Cooperation and Partnership), in collaboration with Confindustria and Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and with the support of the Embassy of Italy in India and the Embassy of India in Italy, was held. It witnessed the participation of 60 CEOs from India and Italy who represented different sectors.