China, Italy sign three-year action plan
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni vowed on Sunday to "relaunch" cooperation with China, signing a three-year action plan during her first official visit to Beijing since taking office, Italian news agency ANSA reported. Meloni made the announcement during a meeting with Premier Li Qiang, as Rome seeks to improve trade ties with Beijing after it exited the Belt and Road infrastructure investment scheme last year. The Italian leader said her five-day trip was a "demonstration of the will to begin a new phase, to relaunch our bilateral cooperation", ANSA reported.  The action plan will aim to experiment with new forms of cooperation, she added. Meloni, who sees Chinese investment as a way to spur Italy's anaemic economic growth, will meet President Xi Jinping and National People's Congress Standing Committee chairman Zhao Leji. She also attended an Italy-China business forum, to which companies including Italian tyre-maker Pirelli, energy group ENI, defence group Leonardo, wine producers and several Italian luxury fashion groups such as Dolce & Gabbana were invited. The forum gives "another signal of the mutual interest... (to) balance more our interests, our commercial exchange," she said.  "China and Italy should adopt a win-win mentality and increase trade and investment cooperation, making cooperation even more dynamic and sustainable," said Premier Li at the opening of the forum, according to a video shared by Meloni's office. Bilateral trade and industrial agreements are expected to be signed during Meloni's trip, a source close to the planning has said. In 2019, Italy became the only Group of Seven country to join the massive Belt and Road Initiative but withdrew last year under US pressure over concerns about Beijing's economic reach. (Reuters)