Vishwakhabram: Just after the Modi-Meloni meeting, Italy left BRI giving a shock to China, the world said – if Modi is there then it is possible

When Italy announced its exit from Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambitious project Belt and Road Initiative i.e. BRI, once again the trend on social media was that if Modi is there then it is possible. Let us remind you that in September this year, when Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni came to India to participate in the G-20 summit, she met Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang just before the bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. And during this meeting, he gave a big shock to him by indicating that Italy wants to exit China’s BRI project. Two days later, Italy gave another big blow to China and announced that it would join the India-Middle East and Europe Economic Corridor Project. After this, now after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s meeting with Meloni at the recently concluded COP28 meeting in Dubai and the selfie of the two leaders went viral, Italy has formally announced that it is withdrawing from the BRI project.

All kinds of things are being said on social media about why Italy is leaving China and why it wants to come closer to India, but let us take a look at the ancient and recent history of relations between the two countries so that it becomes clear. Maybe that’s why the two countries had moved apart and why they are coming closer.

Important points of India-Italy relations

As far as the ancient relations between India and Italy are concerned, let us tell you that both the countries are ancient civilizations of the world and their relation is 2,000 years old. If we talk about the important milestones of India-Italy relations before India’s independence, it is mentioned in history that Italian port cities were important trading centers due to which India’s trade relations were established here. Additionally, the Venetian merchant Marco Polo wrote extensively about his experiences after his visit to India in the 13th century. Also, in the last century, Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore visited Italy in May–June 1926. The visit was arranged by Carlo Formichi, Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Rome. Not only this, while returning from the Round Table Conference in London in December 1931, Mahatma Gandhi also visited Rome. It is also mentioned in the history books that during the Indian freedom struggle, the leaders had read the Italian revolutionary Mazzini a lot. Additionally, Indian soldiers serving in the British Indian Army were deployed in Italy during World War II, fighting against Germany and Mussolini’s forces. Diplomatic relations were established between India and Italy after independence in 1947 and since then there have been regular exchanges of visits between the two countries at the political and official level, including several visits by Heads of State.

India’s relations with Italy remained in controversies during the tenure of Sonia-Manmohan.

Talking about the bad phase in the relations between India and Italy, let us tell you that the bilateral relations between the two countries suffered a setback in 2012 when two Italian sailors were accused of murdering two Indian fishermen in February that year. Marines Salvatore Girone and Massimiliano Latorre were guarding an Italian oil tanker off the coast of Kerala when they fired on a boat carrying fishermen. The marines said they had mistaken the fishermen for pirates. Italy had argued that the fishermen had failed to heed warnings to stay away from the tanker MV Enrica Lexie. Following the incident, both Italian marines were arrested and charged with murder. He was flown from Kerala to New Delhi and stayed at the Italian Embassy complex while his trial was pending. At that time the Italian ambassador had to become his guarantor. The issue gained momentum when then Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi raised the issue in his election campaign during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The two Italian marines were later allowed to return to Italy, pending trial. In 2015 both countries took the case to the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) in The Hague. The PCA ordered Italy to compensate India “for the loss of life” and after Italy paid a sum of Rs 100 million, the case was finally closed in 2021.

Additionally, relations between the two countries were strained in 2011–12 when the Italian Attorney General’s Office investigated alleged unethical dealings by Finmeccanica, an Italian government-backed defense company. During the investigation, corruption was found in deals worth more than Rs 3,500 crore signed with India by the group’s subsidiary AgustaWestland. Let us tell you that this deal signed in 2010 was a contract for the supply of 12 AW-101 helicopters to the Indian Air Force. After allegations of corruption surfaced, this issue quickly gained political prominence in India. Sonia Gandhi’s Italian origins gave the BJP more ammunition to attack the Congress, which was already grappling with corruption scandals at the time. Subsequently, after the contract was canceled and after winning the legal case in Italy in June 2014, the Indian government encashed the guarantee of Rs 2,000 crore, which further increased the tension between the two countries. However Italian courts dismissed all charges in 2018 on the grounds of insufficient evidence. Also, the decision of the Italian courts was upheld by the Supreme Court of Italy in 2019.

India’s relations with Italy improved during Modi’s tenure

The work of improving relations between India and Italy started in 2018. When the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj led an official delegation to the canonization ceremony of Mother Teresa at the Vatican on 2–5 September 2016. During that time he met his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni and both sides decided to celebrate the 70th year of diplomatic relations. In 2018 the festival was celebrated through a series of cultural events. After this, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Rome in December 2019 and met the then Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Subsequently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italian PM Conte co-chaired a virtual summit between India and Italy on 6 November 2020. In this the 2020-2025 action plan was adopted. During this, an ambitious agenda was set for increased partnership between the countries.

Modi then made his first official visit to Italy in October 2021 to attend the G20 leaders’ summit. On the sidelines of the summit he held a bilateral meeting with the then Prime Minister of Italy, Mario Draghi. Subsequently, Prime Minister Meloni paid a state visit to India on 2–3 March 2023, following his election victory in September 2022. This was the first high-level visit from Italy to India after a gap of 5 years. During the visit, Meloni and Modi discussed promoting green economy, energy security and transition, defense co-production and co-innovation and blue economy. The purpose of Meloni’s visit was to elevate bilateral relations to the level of strategic partnership. During this, a Startup Bridge was also established between Indian and Italian startup companies. Not only this, Melonie was also the chief guest and keynote speaker at Raisina Dialogue 2023. When Meloni visited again for the G20 leaders’ summit in September this year, the two sides also agreed to the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor.

Now Italy’s move to exit China’s Belt and Road Initiative has also added a new strategic dimension to the relationship. Let us also tell you that India’s bilateral trade with Italy in 2021-22 was US $ 13.229 billion, which is an increase of more than 50% compared to the previous financial year. In this way Italy has become India’s fourth largest trading partner in the European Union. Not only this, more than 600 big Italian companies are active in India.

Let us also tell you that strategically Italy wants to partner with India in the defense sector. Following a corporate restructuring in 2016, AgustaWestland merged into Finmeccanica’s newly renamed Leonardo S.p.A. as a helicopter division. After this, the then Army Chief General MM Naravane visited Italy from 7-9 July 2021. His visit came after 14 years and the first interaction between the two countries at the defense service chief level in more than a decade. During this, the Italian Defense Minister expressed his desire to restart defense relations with India. Dr. Matteo Perego di Cremanago, Minister of State for Defense of Italy, led the Italian delegation at the Aero India Show in February 2023. Additionally, Italy has also deployed an officer from its Embassy to the Information Fusion Center-Indian Ocean Region (IFC-IOR) in February 2023 to enhance maritime security and counter anti-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean Region.

Why did Italy withdraw from BRI?

Let us remind you that Italy became the first G7 country to join the BRI during the visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping to Rome in 2019. Italy hoped that China would serve as a market for Italian products and that Chinese investment would boost Italian infrastructure. But BRI did not live up to Italy’s expectations but all the benefits went to China. Since Italy joined the BRI, its exports to China have increased from 14.5 billion euros to 18.5 billion euros, while Chinese exports to Italy have grown even more, from 33.5 billion euros to 50.9 billion euros. Similarly, Chinese FDI in Italy also declined from $650 million in 2019 to just $33 million in 2021. Seeing all these things, Meloni had indicated last year that joining the BRI was a “big mistake” which she wanted to correct.

However, to maintain strategic ties with China, Italy’s Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani visited Beijing in September and President Sergio Mattarella is scheduled to visit China next year. Meloni herself has also said that she wants to go to Beijing, but no date has been decided. Let us tell you that Meloni is the head of a conservative coalition and is eager to burnish her credentials as a committed pro-NATO leader. He is said to have assured US President Joe Biden earlier this year that Italy would leave the BRI. Let us tell you that in 2019, Italy had decided to join BRI, ignoring all the warnings of America, but now it has come out of it and has become the first European country to exit China’s BRI project.

However, as far as BRI is concerned, let us tell you that India has opposed this project of the Chinese President from the beginning because it has violated India’s territorial integrity by passing through Pakistan occupied Kashmir. India also believes that this Chinese project violates the sovereignty of other countries. India also believes that BRI is a Chinese conspiracy to capture the resources of the countries involved in the project by making them unnecessarily indebted.

-Neeraj Kumar Dubey