ITALY & INDIA: STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP FOR INDO-MEDITERRANEAN

The relationship between India and Italy has now reached a decisive stage, evolving from a cordial friendship into a special strategic partnership grounded in the values of freedom and democracy, and a common vision for the future.

- NARENDRA MODI & GIORGIA MELONI

This partnership is guided by regular exchanges at higher political and institutional levels, and is gaining a new and higher dimension that combines our economic dynamism, societal creativity, and millennia-old civilisational wisdom.

Our cooperation mirrors our shared awareness that prosperity and security in the 21st century will be shaped by the ability of nations to innovate, manage energy transitions, and strengthen strategic sovereignty. To this end, we have committed to deepen and diversify our bilateral relationship with a view to pursuing new objectives and pooling our complementary strengths. We aim to forge a powerful synergy between Italian design, manufacturing excellence, and world-class supercomputers—reflecting Italy’s position as an industrial powerhouse—and India’s rapid economic growth, engineering talent, scale, and innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem with over 100 unicorns and 200,000 start-ups. This is not a simple integration, but a co-creation of value where our respective industrial strengths amplify one another.

The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the European Union and India paves the way for increased trade and investment in both directions. We want to reach and exceed the €20 billion target for trade between Italy and India by 2029, with a focus on defence & aerospace, clean technologies, machinery, automotive components, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, textiles, agri-food, tourism and more.

“Made in Italy” has always been synonymous with excellence worldwide, and today it finds a natural synergy with the high-quality goals of the “Make in India” initiative. In this context, the growing interest of Italian businesses in the production for India and the increasing presence of Indian industries in Italy, numbering over 1,000 from both sides now, is a positive sign that will strengthen the integration of our supply chains.