Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni met Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Monday as she tries to repair the rocky relationship between the two countries.
Meloni informed Beijing in December of Italy’s exit from China’s globe-spanning Belt and Road infrastructure investment project, saying the economic hopes had failed to materialize.
Italy had been the only country in the Group of Seven (G7) to take part in the Belt and Road. It had joined in 2019, when Meloni’s current three-party right-wing government was not in power.
Meloni is now looking to reset relations with the world’s second-largest economy. She is currently on a five-day trip to China – her first to the country since taking office in 2022.
“There is growing uncertainty at the international level, and I think China is inevitably a very important dialogue partner in all these dynamics,” Meloni said at a meeting with Xi in Beijing, the Italian news agency ANSA reported.
“We must reflect together from our respective points of view about how to ensure stability, peace and free trade.”
Meloni and Chinese Premier Li Qiang on Sunday signed a three-year action plan to improve economic ties, although few details have been released.
She said on Monday that she hopes Italy and China will “explore new forms of cooperation.” Meloni also said she wanted to see a more “balanced” trade relationship, amid accusations in Europe that Beijing is flooding the global market with cheap, state-subsidized goods.
For his part, Xi said that he welcomes investments in China by Italian companies.
