India-Italy Parliamentary Virtual Meeting
The 2nd India-Italy Parliamentary meeting was held on 22 March 2021 on virtual platform. The meeting was co-chaired by Shri P.P. Chaudhary, Chairperson, Standing Parliamentary Committee on External Affairs and Senator Roberta Pinnotti, President, Italy-India Parliament Friendship Group. President of the Committee of Foreign Affairs in the Chamber of Deputies in Italy, Mr. Piero Fassino; former Deputy Minister and MP in the Chamber of Deputies, Ms. Emanuela Claudia Del Re and Deputy Chair, Committee of Foreign Affairs in the Chamber of Deputies, Mr. Paolo Formentini also attended the meeting, in addition to other twelve members from various political parties. The Italy-India Parliament Friendship Group was established in 2019 by the Italian Parliament in the frame of the Italian Group of the Inter-parliamentary Union, to enhance bilateral relations between India and Italy. The group is a cross party group that currently has 17 members including the Chair.
2) During the meeting, the Indian side conveyed felicitations to the newly elected Government of Italy and reiterated India’s desire to strengthen bilateral relations with Italy. All the members of the Italian side unanimously appreciated Indian Government’s ongoing impressive vaccine programme and also GOI’s efforts to supply vaccines to multiple countries.
3) Members from both sides underlined the need for India and Italy to continue to work together bilaterally and coordinate positions in multilateral forums. Both sides agreed on the need to further enhance inter-parliamentary cooperation between the two countries and to work together to build a robust and wide-ranging partnership covering political consultations, trade and commerce, science & technology, culture, and tourism.
4) The members exchanged views and ideas for cooperation in the area of healthcare, especially in the context of ongoing pandemic, climate change and similar challenges that the world would face in the coming years. The Italian side appreciated India’s heavy investment in renewable engery sector. Discussions also covered forthcoming Italian G20 Presidency, Global Healh Summit in May 2021, India-EU relations and ongoing crises in Myanmar. This year, Italy is also co-host of COP26.
5) India and Italy, both ancient civilizations having rich cultural heritages, have known, interacted and traded with each other for over 2000 years. India attaches great importance to the overall development of our bilateral relations with Italy including interaction between the Parliamentarians that will play an important role in enhancing mutual trust and understanding, and will help in strengthening people-to-people ties.
