India and Italy elevate ties to Special Strategic Partnership

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, May 20, announced the elevation of India-Italy ties to a ‘Special Strategic Partnership’.

Addressing a joint press meet with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni following their talks in Rome, PM Modi said the India-Italy Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025-2029 provides a practical and forward-looking framework for enhancing bilateral ties.

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He added that the bilateral trade between the two sides was progressing towards the target of 20 billion Euros with more than 800 Italian companies actively contributing to India’s growth story, IANS reported.

“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.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Modi also expressed his gratitude to Meloni 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,” he said.

Prime Minister Modi stated that India and Italy ties have gained new momentum, direction as well as confidence under the Giorgia Meloni’s leadership.

“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,” he stated.

Further, he noted that the cooperation in defence and security showcases “deep mutual trust” between 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,” he said.