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Transcript of Special Briefing by JS (EW) on India - Italy Virtual Summit (November 06, 2020)

November 07, 2020

Shri Anurag Srivastava, Official Spokesperson: Friends, Namaskar and good evening. Welcome. We'll start with the special briefing. As you would know, we have just concluded the India-Italy Virtual Bilateral Summit and to brief us on the Summit and it's outcomes we have with us Joint Secretary Europe West, Shri Sandeep Chakravorty, JS (EW). Joint Secretary will start with his opening remarks and then he will take a few questions. Over to you Sandeep.

Shri Sandeep Chakravorty, JS (EW): Thank you Anurag. Namaskar, good evening. As you all know, today we had a first Virtual Summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italian Prime Minister Professor Giuseppe Conte. This was the fifth interaction at the Prime Minister level between the two leaders in the last three years. Recently, there have been two telephone conversations, as lately as May 2020. Our Prime Minister was scheduled to visit Italy in May 2020 at the invitation of Prime Minister Conte, however due to the Covid pandemic the visit could not materialize. Hence, the two leaders decided to continue the engagement, even though it was in the virtual format. The meeting lasted more than an hour. The discussions between the two Prime Ministers were held in a very friendly and cordial atmosphere. Both Prime Ministers recalled the tele-conversation of May 2020, during which they exchanged views on the Covid situation, the way forward. Both sides noted with satisfaction, the sustained progress in the bilateral relationship, which is based on historical links, common democratic traditions, and the rule of law. Entire gamut of bilateral relationship was discussed along with regional and multilateral issues. A joint statement and a joint work plan is being released on the occasion. The objective of the virtual meeting was to build on the strong political understanding and foundations that the two countries enjoy and build on it a economic and bilateral infrastructure of ties between the two countries. Both sides also decided to work closely on concluding at the earliest migration and mobility partnership agreement. An interesting aspect of today's discussion was the invitation by Prime Minister Conte to Prime Minister Modi to jointly participate and engage in the 700th birth anniversary of Supreme Poet Dante Alighieri and Prime Minister Conte mentioned that in his "Divine Comedy", Dante has made many references to India and particularly one reference which he mentioned was reference to the river Ganges and Prime Minister responded that his constituency Varanasi is on the Ganges and that brings some kind of special attraction for him to visit Italy at the next possible opportunity. I think these are my initial remarks Anurag. Over to you.

Shri Anurag Srivastava, Official Spokesperson: Thank you Sandeep. We've received a few questions. I'll read them out. First one is from Ranjit Kumar from Rakshak News - "has Italy indicated any change in its stance on India's candidature for permanent membership of the UN Security Council?"

Shri Sandeep Chakravorty, JS (EW): This matter was not indicated by the Italian side in the discussions.

Shri Anurag Srivastava, Official Spokesperson: Sidhant from WION wants to know - "was alternative supply chains discussed?"

Shri Sandeep Chakravorty, JS (EW): I think the whole focus of the discussion or the engagement today was on economic ties and Italy is very keen to diversify its supply chain, to diversify its investment, outgoing investment today, to have a more substantive economic partnership with India. I think, so in that way, Sidhant your question is very relevant, I think the whole discussion and the bilateral economic cooperation was focused on diversification of supply chains. And, if you see the agreements that were signed, coinciding with the Summit, 15 agreements were signed, most in the private sector and you will see a lot of investment decisions have been taken and cooperation between private sector entities. So, I think the whole focus of the Summit and also the agreements will testify that what you said is relevant and that was the main point of discussion in the Summit.

Shri Anurag Srivastava, Official Spokesperson: Sidhant also wants to know - "was China discussed during the talks?"

Shri Sandeep Chakravorty, JS (EW): You see both regional and multinational issues were discussed and in that several regional topics came up for discussion.

Shri Anurag Srivastava, Official Spokesperson: Suman Sharma, her question is - "the bilateral defence cooperation MoU under discussion between the two Ministries of Defence, has it been concluded and signed, or will further discussions take place?"

Shri Sandeep Chakravorty, JS (EW): The bilateral MoU is under discussion. It has not been concluded. We are very confident and hopeful that it will be concluded at the earliest and in fact, there is some discussion of a high-level exchange in the defence sector. So perhaps on that occasion, this will be concluded.

Shri Anurag Srivastava, Official Spokesperson: Elizabeth from Live Mint. She wants to know was there any discussion on the India-EU FTA?

Shri Sandeep Chakravorty, JS (EW): Elizabeth you see, Italy is a very important member of the EU. After BREXIT, it is the third largest economy in the EU and India's fifth largest business trade partner in the EU and also a large investor in India. So, of course, EU relations with India, EU relations formed part of the discussions and the EU FTA was discussed and Prime Minister mentioned about the 15th EU-India Summit, which was held on the 15th of July, where the mechanism of inter-ministerial mechanism has been set up and that is going to look at the India-EU trade agreement and trade relations. So it was discussed. Yes.

Shri Anurag Srivastava, Official Spokesperson: Next question is from Maha from CNN News18 - "What agreements have been signed between Italy and India after the today's Summit?"

Shri Sandeep Chakravorty, JS (EW): As I mentioned before Maha, 15 agreements were signed most in the economic sector, in energy, in green energy, in wealth from waste, in renewables, and also some in the cultural aspects. In fact, there was a media agreement also between RCS and ANI content sharing. So wide gamut of agreements were signed, but most I would say were in the economic area and the list I think will be put up by the XP division, you could have a look.

Shri Anurag Srivastava, Official Spokesperson: Yes, we'll be putting out the list shortly. Parikshit from CNBC wants to know - "what are the expectations from the India-Italy Summit? What was the broad agenda and what agreements were signed?" I think you've already mentioned the agreements, you can respond to the rest of the question.

Shri Sandeep Chakravorty, JS (EW): As I said before, the whole focus of the Summit was to build on very good political relations we have between India and Italy and the focus was on taking our economic partnership to the next level in new areas, in green technology, in energy, in renewables, in advanced manufacturing, in areas of circular economy. In the EU Summit if you remember, declaration was signed on renewable and circular economy. So, I think Italy can become a very valuable partner in circular economy, where we recycle and upcycle everything that is produced. So, I think Italy is an important partner in new technologies and emerging technologies and I think the focus of the Summit and the objective was to concentrate on the economic aspects of the relationship.

Shri Anurag Srivastava, Official Spokesperson: No further questions, so I think we can conclude this special briefing. Thank you Sandeep, thank you for joining us and we will resume very shortly with our regular weekly briefing in a few minutes.

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