Meloni: Italy can improve trade with China after Belt and Road departure
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[December 07, 2023]
By Crispian Balmer and Angelo Amante
ROME (Reuters) - Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Thursday that
Italy can improve trade and economic ties with China even after Rome's
decision to leave Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
"I think that we should... improve our cooperation with China on trade,
the economy," Meloni told reporters in her first public comments on the
issue since Italy informed China it was quitting the BRI.
"The tool of the (BRI) ... has not produced the results that were
expected," she added.
Italy in 2019 became the first and so far only major Western nation to
join the trade and investment program, ignoring warnings from the United
States that it might allow China to take control of sensitive
technologies and vital infrastructure.
However, when Meloni took office last year, she said she wanted to
withdraw from the deal, which was championed by President Xi Jinping.
The 2019 accord expires in March 2024 and an Italian government source
said on Wednesday that Rome had sent Beijing a letter "in recent days"
informing China that it would not be renewing.
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China's foreign ministry said on Thursday that the BRI has "enormous
appeal and global influence", without singling out Italy for criticism.
"China firmly opposes smearing that damages Belt and Road cooperation,"
foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin told reporters at a routine
briefing.
NO TRADE BONANZA
A second Italian government source, speaking on condition of anonymity
because of the sensitivity of the issue, noted that "other G7 nations
have closer relations with China than we do, despite the fact they were
never in (the BRI)."
Italy will assume the presidency of the G7 in 2024.
More than 100 countries have signed agreements with China to cooperate
on BRI infrastructure and building projects since it was launched in
2013. The then Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte hoped for a trade
bonanza when he signed up in 2019, but Chinese firms were the main
beneficiaries, data shows.
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![](../images/120723PIX/news_y27.jpg)
Flags flutter in the wind during the opening ceremony of the Belt
and Road Forum (BRF) to mark the 10th anniversary of the Belt and
Road Initiative at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China
October 18, 2023. REUTERS/Edgar Su
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2019/Sep/05/images/ads/current/stclara_lda_SPONSOR_090519.png)
Italian exports to China totaled 16.4 billion euros ($17.7 billion)
last year from 13 billion euros in 2019. By contrast, Chinese
exports to Italy rose to 57.5 billion from 31.7 billion over the
same period, Italian data showed.
Italy's main euro zone trading partners France and Germany exported
significantly more to China last year, despite not being part of the
BRI, which is modeled on the old Silk Road that linked China to the
West.
Looking to maintain strategic ties, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani
visited Beijing in September and President Sergio Mattarella is due
to visit China next year.
Meloni herself has said she wants to go to Beijing, but no date has
been fixed.
Successive governments in Rome signaled their doubts about the pact
by vetoing some proposed takeovers or limiting the sway of Chinese
companies over their Italian counterparts.
Meloni, who heads a conservative coalition, has been keen to burnish
her credentials as a committed pro-NATO leader and a government
source said that she had assured U.S. President Joe Biden earlier
this year that Italy would leave the BRI.
(Reporting by Angelo Amante, Crispian Balmer and Giuseppe Fonte;
Additional reporting by Beijing Newsroom and Laurie Chen in Beijing
and Alvise Armellini in Rome; writing by Giulia Segreti and Crispian
Balmer; Editing by Keith Weir, Toby Chopra Barbara Lewis, Alexandra
Hudson)
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