ANNOUNCING the elevation of India-Italy ties to a ‘Special Strategic Partnership’, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said that India-Italy Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025-2029 provides a practical and forward-looking framework for enhancing bilateral ties. Addressing a joint press meet with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni following their talks in Rome on Wednesday, PM Modi stated that the bilateral trade between India and Italy is progressing towards the target of 20 billion Euros with more than 800 Italian companies actively contributing to India’s growth story. “I am happy to announce that we are upgrading our relations to a Special Strategic Partnership. In today’s meeting, we discussed in detail ways to further strengthen our partnership. The India-Italy Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025-2029 provides our partnership with a practical and forward-looking framework. We are moving forward on this in a time-bound manner,” he said. He also expressed his gratitude to Italian PM for the warm welcome. “Rome is known as the ‘Eternal City’ in the world. My Lok Sabha constituency in India, Kashi, is also known as Eternal city in India. When two civilisations meet, then discussions are not limited to an agenda, but the depth of history, a glimpse of the future and the simplicity of friendship can be seen in it.” PM Modi noted that the ties between India and Italy have gained new momentum, direction and confidence under the leadership of PM Giorgia Meloni. “In the last 3.5 years, I got an opportunity to meet PM Meloni many times.

 

This shows close cooperation and coordination between India and Italy. Under her leadership, our relations have gained new momentum, new direction, and new confidence,” PM Modi said. He stated that the close cooperation between India and Italy in defence and security showcases “deep mutual trust” between two nations. Cooperation is also increasing between the defence industries of India and Italy. “Our Defence Industrial Roadmap has paved the way for co-development and co-production. As maritime powers, close cooperation in the field of connectivity between India and Italy is natural. We will work together on shipping, ports modernisation, logistics and blue economy.” PM Modi said that the shared initiative of India and Italy against terror financing has presented an important example before the world. Highlighting the strategic geographic positioning of Italy and India across the Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific respectively, the Italian Prime Minister underscored the importance of deepening connectivity, especially through major initiatives like the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which was launched during the G20 Summit in New Delhi in September 2023. Addressing a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Meloni said, “We are two peninsulas, two platforms… I will just say platforms, which are projected in crucial areas of the world, the Mediterranean and the Indo-Pacific area.

 

We think that strengthening the interconnection between these two important areas is of extreme importance. That’s the reason why we wanted to further develop IMEC, which is the infrastructure corridor, an economic corridor between Europe, the Middle East, and India, which was established during the G20 summit,” said Meloni. Parishram hi safalta ki kunji hai: Italian PM Meloni speaks in Hindi: EMPHASISING the growing momentum in India-Italy relationship, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Wednesday referred to the popular Hindi proverb “Parishram hi safalta ki kunji hai” (hard work is the key to success) while underscoring the importance of commitment and consistency in shaping strong and successful bilateral ties. Addressing a joint press conference with Prime Minister Narendra Modi following their talks in Rome, Meloni said, “There is an Indian word which states that very well, which is ‘Parishram’. Parishram, which means ‘hard work’ and ‘constant commitment’, is a word which I know is very often used in India, and it is often used in a very popular way of saying, ‘Parishram hi safalta ki kunji hai’, which means ‘hard work is the key to success’, and we are used to building our relations in this way, with hard work which becomes success at the end.” She also expressed gratitude to PM Modi, saying that his visit to Italy would open a new chapter in the bilateral ties and would certainly not be the last in the long journey that both countries are building together with commitment and a firm resolve.