India-Italy Relations

IN NEWS:

• On the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Italy and India, the meeting between Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 2, 2023 in New Delhi marked a turning point in the relations between the two countries.

HISTORY OF INDIA-ITALY RELATIONS

• India and Italy are ancient civilizations but young states (Italy 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 interacted & traded with each other for over 2000 years. 
• Italian port cities were important trading posts on the spice route. 
• Venetian merchant Marco Polo, during his travels to the east, also travelled to India in the 13th century and wrote about his experiences.
• Indian troops, serving with the British Indian Army, were active in Italy during World War II. These include the Rajputana Rifles and Gurkha Rifles.

AREAS OF COOPERATION:

• Economic:
  • Italy is among India's top 5 trading partners in the EU. 
  • India ranks 19th as country of origin of Italian imports, accounting for 1.2% of Italian imports
  • Italy ranks 18th in FDI inflows in India during April 2000 to December 2020 with FDI inflow of US $ 3.02 billion during this period.
  • The first ‘Indo-Italian High-Level Dialogue on Economic relations’ was held in October, 2020.
  • The Joint Economic Commission is an institutional mechanism chaired by the respective Commerce Ministers of both countries. The 21st Session of the India-Italy Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation was held through the virtual mode in 2021.
• Defence:
  • The Chief of Army Staff, General M.M. Naravane visited Italy in 2021. 
  • The visit of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) took place after 14 years and at the Service Chief Level the interaction occurred after more than a decade. 
  • The Italian Defence Minister conveyed Italy’s desire to “reboot the defence relations with India”.
  • The COAS, in Cassino, dedicated the Indian Army Memorial to the 50,000 Indian soldiers who had fought for the liberalization of Italy in the Second World War and declared renaming of an existing World War II track as Roorkee road.
• Cultural Exchange, Scientific Co-operation:
  • An Executive Programme for Cultural Cooperation/Cultural Exchange Programme (EPCC/CEP) is signed periodically, under the bilateral cultural agreement.
  • The Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) between Italy and India entails exchange of students in language programmes as well as other academic courses.
  • There are around 10 Universities/higher education institutions in Italy with highly qualified faculties which conduct courses in Indian art, history and languages. Many of these institutions teach Hindi and Sanskrit to Italian students.
• Political:
  • There has been a regular exchange of visits at political and official levels between both countries.
  • Eg 1:  India-Italy Parliamentary Interaction was held in 2021, which was the first ever virtual interaction for Indian Parliamentarians. 
  • Eg 2: External Affairs Minister met Italian Foreign Minister in Italy on the sidelines of the G20 Foreign Ministers conference in 2021.
  • Eg 3: PM Modi paid his first official visit to Italy to attend the G20 Summit(2021) at the invitation of PM Draghi. On the sidelines of the Summit, the two sides exchanged views on bilateral relations as well as international and regional issues of mutual interest. 
  • Eg 4: Institutionalized Senior Officials Dialogue (Foreign Office Consultations) held regularly (last held in February, 2022 in Rome)
• Science and Technology:
  • An Agreement on S&T Co-operation was signed in 2003. 
  • Some of the prime areas of joint research are Electronics, Biotechnology, Design Engineering Automotive Technologies, Energy, etc. An Agreement for Audio-visual cooperation was signed between the two countries in 2005.
  • An Executive Programme of Cooperation (EPOC) for three years was signed in 2017. 13 projects for exchange of researchers and 10 significant joint research projects were selected from the priority areas of ICT, renewable energy and health.
  • Italy joined the India led International Solar Alliance in March, 2021.
  • The India-Italy Innovation Day was held virtually on 14th July 2021. 
• Indian Community:
  • The Indian community in Italy (estimated at 2.5 lakhs including PIOs) is the third largest community of Indians in Europe after the UK and the Netherlands.
  • As first generation migrants, majority of them are engaged in economic sectors such as agriculture, dairy farming, leather industry, construction works and in service industry. 
  •  In order to reach out to the Indian community members, the Embassy is hosting monthly webinars. 

CHALLENGES IN INDIA-ITALY RELATIONS

• Economic: 
  • Low volume of trade compared to the huge potential (Bilateral trade between India and Italy was Euro 10 Billion in 2020-21)
  • Challenges in the investment climate need to be addressed. Eg:  High taxation and regulatory complexity in Italy
• Internal challenges of Italy:
  • Italy has a low average annual growth rate of 0.3% in the last four years and an alarmingly high debt-to-GDP ratio of 154% of GDP in 2020.
• Lack of progress in Trilateral partnership:
  • India, Japan and Italy have jointly launched a trilateral in 2021 to work towards the security, stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific Region. 
• UNSC Expansion:
  • Uniting for Consensus (Coffee Club) is a movement under the leadership of Italy which aims to counter the bids for permanent seats proposed by G4 nations (Brazil, Germany, India, and Japan)
• Diaspora issues:
  • Influx of Indian immigrants in Italy has sometimes led to tensions between the two communities in terms of employment, social integration, and cultural differences

WAY FORWARD

• Improving trade relations by signing the Bilateral Trade and Investment Agreement (BTIA) between India and EU which has been in negotiation for many years without conclusion.
• Industries to cooperate more strongly, particularly in the field of manufacturing, co-production, co-design and co-innovation.
• Evolving and expanding the fast track mechanism established between India and Italy to focus on enhancing economic cooperation and harnessing bilateral trade and investment potential to establish complementarities across focus sectors.
• Facilitate cooperation between the Indo-Pacific and the Mediterranean Sea geographies given India’s permanent presence in the Indian Ocean region and Italy’s in the Mediterranean.

PRACTICE QUESTION:

Q.  “In these very challenging times, India and Italy intend to give a strong impulse to their relations, united by a millenary tradition of exchanges and linked by the common recognition of the value of true friendship and solidarity.” Discuss.