Italy-India Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025-2029

Posted 20 Nov 2024

2 min read

India & Italy held a bilateral meeting on sidelines of G20 Summit in Brazil & unveiled 5-year Joint Strategic Action Plan outlining their vision for collaboration in key sectors, like defense, energy etc.

Key Highlights

Economic Cooperation: Both countries agreed to boost trade & investment in sectors like green technologies, pharmaceuticals, etc through Joint Commission for Economic Cooperation & Working Group on Food Processing.
Connectivity: They agreed to cooperate on India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC), a strategic initiative aimed at enhancing connectivity & trade between India, Middle East, and Europe.
Science and Technology: They agreed on expanding cooperation in critical technologies like artificial intelligence & digitalization, with implementation of 2025-27 Executive Programme for Scientific & Technological Cooperation.
- They also introduced a new Indo-Italian Innovation and Incubation Exchange Program to foster academic & industrial collaboration.
Energy Transition: Both countries agreed on organizing “Tech Summits” & strengthening alliances like Global Biofuels Alliance & International Solar Alliance.
Defense cooperation: They decided to hold annual Joint Defense Consultative (JDC) meetings & Joint Staff Talks (JST) to improve coordination in defense matters.
- They also discussed establishing a Defense Industrial Roadmap to foster cooperation in defense manufacturing.

India-Italy Relations

Political: Diplomatic relations between India & Italy were established in 1947.
Economic: Italy is India’s 4th largest trading partner in EU.
- Bilateral trade in 2022-23 crossed US$ 14.253 billion (balance of trade is in India’s favour).
Indian Diaspora in Italy is estimated at 2 lakhs.
- Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement (2023) between India & Italy was signed to facilitate safe & legal migration.