India and Italy agree to elevate ties to special strategic partnership

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni (right) permission  aft  making statements pursuing  their gathering  astatine  Villa Pamphili successful  Rome connected  May 20, 2026.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni (right) permission aft making statements pursuing their gathering astatine Villa Pamphili successful Rome connected May 20, 2026. | Photo Credit: AP

India and Italy decided to elevate their ties to a peculiar strategical concern and heighten practice successful areas of trade, concern and caller technologies pursuing talks betwixt Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni.

Also read: PM Modi’s sojourn to Italy highlights connected May 20, 2026

“We deliberated extensively connected enhancing India-Italy ties,” PM Modi said successful a associated property connection aft talks with Meloni.

PM Modi, who landed successful Rome connected Tuesday nighttime (May 20, 2026) connected the last limb of his five-nation tour, was accorded a ceremonial subject honour erstwhile helium arrived for talks with Ms. Meloni.

Ahead of bilateral talks, PM Modi called connected Italian President Sergio Mattarella and discussed antithetic aspects relating to India-Italy friendship, including trade, concern and taste linkages. They besides discussed collaboration successful areas specified arsenic AI, captious minerals, abstraction and atomic energy.

Earlier, PM Modi said that his sojourn would absorption connected ways to fortify practice betwixt India and Italy, with peculiar attraction to the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).

In a societal media post, helium besides said that the 2 sides volition reappraisal the Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025-2029, a broad roadworthy representation for practice successful assorted sectors.

Soon aft PM Modi’s accomplishment connected Tuesday nighttime (May 20, 2026), Ms. Meloni hosted him for meal and accompanied him connected a sojourn to the iconic Colosseum up of their ceremonial talks aimed astatine further boosting India-Italy ties.

The 2 leaders person maintained adjacent engagement successful caller years, with Ms. Meloni besides visiting India for the G20 Summit successful 2023.

India and Italy person witnessed increasing economical engagement successful caller years, with bilateral commercialized reaching €14.25 cardinal successful 2025.

India’s exports stood astatine Euro 8.55 billion, portion Italian exports to India were recorded astatine Euro 5.70 cardinal successful 2025, marking an summation of 9.42 per cent implicit 2024.

The 2 countries person acceptable a people of yearly bilateral commercialized of €20 cardinal by 2029.

Italy is India’s fourth-largest trading spouse successful the European Union and has identified India arsenic 1 of the precedence countries nether its planetary commercialized strategy.

The Indian assemblage successful Italy, estimated astatine 1,86,833 arsenic of January 2025, is the largest Indian diaspora radical successful the European Union. Over 5,100 Indian students are presently studying successful Italian universities.

Published - May 20, 2026 06:06 p.m. IST

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