Italy’s Deputy PM Confirms Support For Early EU Free Trade Agreement With India

New York: Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani has said that his country supports early conclusion of the Free Trade Agreement between India and the European Union.

After a meeting here on Thursday with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal, he said on X, “I confirmed Italy’s support for a rapid finalisation of the Free Trade Agreement.”

He said, “Italy and India share a strategic partnership, both political and economic, that we intend to strengthen with a further visit of mine to India in the coming months.”

“India is a priority country of our #PianoExport”, he said using the Italian word piano which means plan.

“For this reason, I wanted the ‘India’ measure (commitment) of 500 million euros to support our exporting companies”, he added.

Jaishankar wrote on X, “We discussed the developments in the Mediterranean, Middle East, Ukraine & Indo-Pacific. Also, the progress in our bilateral ties.”

Among the diplomatic leaders he met on Thursday was Yvette Cooper, who became the British Foreign Secretary in a Cabinet reshuffle this month.

He said that they discussed follow-up from the recent visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Britain in July, during which India-UK Vision 2035 was announced.

It is a ten-year road map for cooperation between the two countries alongside their Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement.

The plan covers Defence cooperation, growing jobs, developing cutting edge technologies, and education partnership.

EAM Jaishankar also met with Foreign Ministers Penny Wong of Australia, Carlos Ramiro Martínez of Guatemala, Badr Abdelatty of Egypt, Mohamad Haji Hasan of Malaysia, Arnoldo André of Costa Rica, and Javier Martínez-Acha Vásquez of Panama.
(IANS)