PM Meloni’s visit Opens a Fresh Chapter in India-Italy Ties

Mired by the legacy defence and security issues, India-Italy bilateral relationship has been rather underwhelming. Accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister, foreign minister and a high-powered business delegation, Italy’s second youngest and first female Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made a two-day trip to India on March 2-3, to commence a bilateral reset. This marks the first visit by an Italian Prime Minister to India in five years. The last visit was by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s in 2018.

The 2012 Italian marines’ issue and the 2013 Finmeccanica kickbacks issue severely roiled the bilateral ties. These developments led to a diplomat spat with Italy vetoing India’s entry into the 34-member exclusive nuclear club- Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). The defence scandal eventually led to an embargo on the purchase of defence supplies from Italy by the Indian government. The ban was lifted last year and even the Supreme Court proceedings on the Marines ended in 2022 with Italy agreeing to pay the compensation. The relations haven’t returned to normal.

Meloni’s delegation which included business leaders from the defence firms is an effort to reopen the channels for defence deals. Also, the geopolitical reset and the ongoing Ukraine-Russia conflict which is weighing heavily on the European countries has prompted a serious recalibration of their policies, especially with regard to the Indo-Pacific region.  Realising the criticality of the region and the growing assertive claims of China, Italy signalled an intention to enter the region.

Amid the growing pushback against China, former Italian Prime Minister Draghi joining the chorus against Beijing’s “unfair practices” highlighted by the EU, expressed interest to join a trilateral cooperation with India and Japan for a free and open Indo-Pacific. In 2021, the foreign ministers of all three countries officially launched India-Italy-Japan trilateral. Italy has strong ties with Japan and deep Indo-Japanese bilateral ties are indeed the pillar of the Indo-Pacific framework. Thus, the consolidation of ties between these three countries through economic cooperation besides having a beneficial effect on global supply chain resilience would cultivate an effective strategic and security dialogue.

The continuity of the engagement which took a hit due to the domestic political turbulences got a lease for life with the bilateral discussion between Prime Minister Modi and Prime Minister Meloni along the sidelines of the Bali Summit in November 2022. With stability and security of the Indo-Pacific region becoming a major concern in the wake of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Italy is making a major foreign policy turnaround.

In 2019, Italy created a stir in the western world becoming the first G7 nation to sign BRI (Belt and Road Initiative). But two years hence, the MoU started tethering with Italy suspending space cooperation and increasingly leaning on the West’s stance regarding Huawei¹. A year later, with the unravelling of the pandemic, PM Draghi, an avowed Atlanticist and vocal critic of China’s human rights in line with the EU, froze the BRI MoU². Subsequently, PM Draghi substantially distanced China and even stalled some of the Chinese investments.

The conservative party, Brothers of Italy, headed by Meloni in power followed Draghi’s foreign policy. She is supporting Taiwan and opposes the auto-renewal of the BRI in 2024.

Around the same time, India’s ties with Italy improved with both countries signing an agreement in textiles and announcing a strategic partnership in renewable and clean energy along the sidelines of the 2021 Rome G20 Summit. Leaders have agreed on exploring partnerships in energy storage solutions, smart grids, gas transportation, integrated waste management, biofuels, and green hydrogen³.

With India tipped to assume the G20 chair, India became part of the G20 troika which also gave Delhi an opportunity to work closely with Rome⁴. Months after the bilateral discussion with PM Modi on regional and global security challenges, in a huge fillip to the India- Italy-Japan trilateral, Meloni elevated ties to a ‘strategic partnership’ on Japanese PM Fumio Kishida’s visit to Rome.

Echoing Italy’s Indo-Pacific aspirations, India invited Prime Minister Meloni as the chief guest and keynote speaker for the 2023 Raisina Dialogue, themed “Provocation, Uncertainty, Turbulence: Lighthouse in the Tempest”. Amid China’s burgeoning assertiveness, Italy is seeking rapprochement with India building on mutual interests, shared values and the commitment to a free, open, inclusive Indo-Pacific.

Nearly 70% of the EU’s trade passes through the Indian Ocean and the SCS region which make the Indo-Pacific. Hence what happens in Indo-Pacific has direct consequences for Europe. India is the resident power of the Indian Ocean and central to the Indo-Pacific. Italy as part of the EU’s anti-piracy mission in the Western Indo-Pacific, Operation Atalanta, is a natural partner of India. Clearly, Indo-Pacific is central to Italy’s maritime security.

In 2012 Italy became the second largest manufacturer surpassing France and after Brexit, it became one of the most important nations in Europe. Traditionally pillars of Italy’s foreign policy are- Europeanism, Atlanticism and Mediterraneanism.  Aflush with opportunities for investment and growth, Italy is focusing majorly on Mediterraneanism⁵.

Steadily it developed connectivity networks with the North African countries and Italian companies became one of the largest shareholders of the various oil companies in Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Cyprus and Libya. In 2021, when the countries were struggling to manage their economies, Italy emerged as the rising economic power in the Mediterranean region becoming the largest trading partner of North Africa and the Balkan nations.

Giving wings to its commercial prowess, Italy gave shape to its ‘Enlarged Mediterranean’ strategy and signed China’s BRI which resonated with Rome’s pursuit of increasing its economic influence and geopolitical heft. But China’s muscular policies and aggressiveness forced a reset in Italy’s ‘Enlarged Mediterranean’ Strategy. Considering the shared conviction of rule of law, Italy is now finding greater congruence between its Enlarged Mediterranean strategy and the Indo-Pacific framework of India and Japan.

Inaugurating the multilateral Dialogue, Meloni enunciated her vision for Indo-Pacific and said, “India is a key player in this broad landscape, bathing in the Indo-Pacific much as Italy is at the heart of the Mediterranean, and our two countries have important contributions to make together”⁶. Explicitly describing her visit to India as a matter of strategic choice⁷, Meloni made New Delhi the destination for her first visit to Asia. Demonstrating an intent to resurrect the ties and evolve a functional framework for the India-Italy-Japan trilateral, the ties have been upgraded to a ‘strategic partnership’.

In line with its Indo-Pacific vision, Italy joined the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) under Science, Technology and Academics Cooperation pillar. To contribute to the concept of indivisible security and underscore the strategic importance of the Indo-Pacific, Italy announced to send Morsini offshore patrol vessel to the region⁸ and planning to hold exercises with friendly naval countries.

Italy is among India’s top five trading partners in the EU. Last year, countries recorded an all-time high of $15 billion in bilateral trade. Recognising the range of opportunities in the Indian economic system for the Italian industries, leaders identified five sub-sectors for economic cooperation. These include- trade; investment; design, innovation, and manufacturing; friend shoring and supply chain resilience partnership; fifth sub-sector- converging on complementarities of skill sets available in India and the industrial ecosystem in Italy. Italy is Europe’s second-largest industrial power. To facilitate the movement of skilled personnel, countries signed a Declaration of Intent on Migration and Mobility and also announced India-Italy Startup Bridge⁹.

Concluding the MoU on defence cooperation, leaders agreed to cooperate strongly in manufacturing, co-development, co-design and co-innovation and also expand and deepen military and maritime cooperation. Leaders held a gamut of discussions on bilateral, regional and global cooperation and expressed their interest to advance cooperation in the respective Make in India and Make in Italy frameworks¹⁰. PM Modi and President Murmu have invited Italian companies to actively participate in Make in India initiative and make the best of the opportunities in India.

Italy strongly condemned the ‘unprovoked and unlawful aggression against Ukraine by the Russian armed forces’. As the G20 Chair, Italy wanted India to play a ‘central role’ in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Despite differences over the Ukraine crisis, both countries expressed concerns over the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, the destabilising effect of the conflict and its broader regional and global implications.

Countries have agreed to deepen cooperation in space, cybersecurity, HADR cooperation, humanitarian assistance, disaster relief, Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Internet of Things (IoT), advanced manufacturing, Bio and RNA technologies, energy transitions, conservation of biodiversity, agriculture and food technologies. Countries recognised the need for expanding cooperation on climate change and the energy crisis which are global challenges and also on beneficial multilateralism.

Unfortunately, one of the major hurdles in reforming and expanding the UNSC is the Uniting for Consensus (UfC) nicknamed Coffee Club founded by Italian ambassador Francesco Paolo Fulci along with Pakistan, Mexico and Egypt¹¹. Slowly the group grew in numbers and strength, strongly opposing the G4 comprising India, Germany, Japan and Brazil rooting for UNSC reforms. Italy’s support for India’s UNSC membership can thus be a real game changer.

The recalibration of India-Italy ties began in 2017 with countries scripting a new chapter through a Joint Statement in 2018, Action Plan 2020-24 and strategic partnership in the energy transition in 2021. Meloni has infused new momentum in the bilateral ties proposing collaborations through the ‘Blue-Raman’ project, the state of art, high-speed submarine data cable connection that can connect India to Italy through the Middle East. This new-age digital communication network has two main branches- the blue system will connect Italy, France, Greece and Israel while the Raman branch will reach Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Djibouti, Oman and India¹¹.

As an influential player in the EU, India-Italy ties can augur well for the implementation of the India-EU connectivity partnership and the ongoing negotiations on the India-EU partnership. Italy is competing for a leadership position in the EU and strengthening its position as Europe’s energy hub through a series of energy partnership agreements with the MENA (Middle East and North African) countries as part of Mattei Plan¹².

Meloni referred to this in her address, to highlight Italy’s prioritisation of relations with countries in the South and along the Mediterranean. Meloni projected Italy as a strategically important global player ready for a mutually beneficial partnership.

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