Modi holds talks with Italian PM, inks six pacts
India and Italy on Monday inked six pacts, including on boosting cooperation in the energy and trade sectors, after extensive talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni on key issues such as terrorism and cyber crime.
The two leaders also discussed ways to strengthen the bilateral political and economic relations, apart from deliberating on strategic international and regional issues. Addressing a joint media event with Gentiloni, Modi said they discussed wide-ranging issues, including the challenges posed by terrorism and cyber crimes, while agreeing to enhance cooperation to counter them.
Modi also noted that there was a huge potential for enhancing India-Italy trade ties. After the ModiGentiloni meeting, the two sides signed six pacts to deepen cooperation in the fields of railways sector safety, energy and promoting mutual investments, among others. Italy is India’s fifth largest trading partner in the EU with a bilateral trade of $8.79 billion in 2016-17, as per official figures.
India's exports to Italy were at $4.90 billion, while its imports were at $3.89 billion, resulting in a trade imbalance of $1 billion in favour of India. In the first four months of fiscal 2017-18, bilateral trade has reached $3.22 billion. Ahead of his meeting with Modi, the visiting leader had described his visit as an opportunity to make ties between the two countries stronger.