New Delhi [India], April 13 : Union Minister of Commerce and Industry Piyush Goyal met the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Taj to review the entire gamut of bilateral trade and economic relations on Wednesday.
Goyal arrived in Rome on Wednesday for his two-day visit to Italy.
The Ministers on Wednesday exchanged views on how the India-Italy trade and economic partnership can be leveraged for growth across diverse sectors, according to a statement released by the ministry of commerce and industry on Thursday morning.
During the meeting, both Ministers expressed happiness over the elevation of the bilateral relations to the level of strategic partnership following the recent state visit of the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, to India.
Taj suggested the formation of a joint working group in strategic areas such as space, technology, defence, agriculture, etc, to follow up on the important developments in these areas.
Both the ministers further expressed satisfaction at the high growth in bilateral trade between India and Italy, which has reached around USD 16 billion in 2022, and resolved to expand it further.
Goyal briefed Taj on the progress made on India-EU free trade agreement (FTA) negotiation, according to the ministry's statement. The Ministers underlined the importance of achieving a free, balanced and fair FTA and hoped that it would be concluded soon. They also agreed to the convening of the next session of the Joint Commission on Economic Cooperation (JCEC) in Rome in the last week of September 2023.
Taj suggested strengthening the Parliamentary friendship group diplomacy between the Parliaments of the two countries and exploring the scope for having a cyber dialogue. According to the ministry's statement, Goyal briefed Taj about India's G20 priorities and extended an invitation to him for the G20 Trade Ministers Meeting in India in August 2023. Taj assured his full support to make India's G20 Presidency successful.
Goyal emphasised enhancing bilateral cooperation in the field of clean energy to achieve sustainability to mitigate the negative impact of climate change. He stated that developed countries make low-cost climate financing and technology available to developing countries to deal with the climate change issue effectively.
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