Rome: External Affairs Minister (EAM) S. Jaishankar on Sunday inaugurated the new Chancery of the Embassy of India in Rome, a few hours after he arrived in Italy on a three-day visit to attend the Outreach session of the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting where India has been invited as a guest country.
“It befits the continued expansion of India-Italy partnership in recent years. Will also help us serve better the Indian community in Italy,” the EAM posted on X after inaugurating the new premises of the Embassy of India in Rome.
Jaishankar is also scheduled to participate in the 10th edition of the MED Mediterranean Dialogue in Rome, being organised by Institute for International Political Studies (ISPI) in collaboration with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy.
The conference will be inaugurated on Monday with a speech by Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Antonio Tajani.
Besides EAM Jaishankar, the event will also be attended by high-level representatives from all over the enlarged Mediterranean region, as well as representatives of numerous relevant international organisations, including Ahmed Aboul Gheit, Secretary General, Arab League; Taher al-Baour, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Libya; Abdallah Bou Habib, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Lebanon; Mohamed Salem Ould Marzouk, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauritania; Shaya Mohsin Zindani, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates, Yemen and Geir O. Pedersen, Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Syria.
In Fiuggi, which is hosting the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, EAM Jaishankar is expected to hold discussions on major regional issues and global topics, including the stability of the Indo-Pacific — a priority region for political balances and world trade.
He is also expected to meet his counterparts from Italy and other participating nations in the G7 related engagements and hold bilateral discussions during the visit.
India and Italy, both ancient civilizations with rich cultural heritage, enjoy strong people-to-people connect propelled by a large Indian diaspora and long standing Indological Studies tradition in Italy.
In their bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday (November 18), Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni had reiterated their commitment to advancing the India-Italy Strategic Partnership and announced a Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025-29 which outlines their vision for the next five years.
The Action Plan will pursue joint collaborations, programmes and initiatives in key sectors of trade and investment, science and technology, new and emerging technologies, clean energy, space, defence, connectivity and people-to-people linkages.
Meanwhile, the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Fiuggi will be the second to be hosted in Italy in 2024, after the one held in Capri from April 17 to 19.
Under the Italian Presidency, the G7 Foreign Ministers have also met, in recent months, on the sidelines of major international events in Munich, Washington and New York.
“As in Capri, the agenda of the Fiuggi Ministerial Meeting will focus on the main issues at the heart of the international debate, starting with the situation in the Middle East following Hamas’s brutal terrorist attack against Israel on 7 October 2023. Among the topics under discussion will be the serious humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the situation in Lebanon, the one in the Red Sea, and the need to promote a credible political horizon for the region that guarantees peace and security, from the perspective of ‘two Peoples, two States’,” stated the Italian G7 Presidency, earlier this week.
(IANS)
