Italy seeks to strengthen its cooperation with China with a "clear rebalancing of trade". This was stated by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to the media during his visit to China, "Reuters" reported, quoted by News.bg.
Meloni specified that Italian investments in China are about three times more than Chinese investments in Italy.
"We clearly want to work to remove obstacles to the access of our products to the Chinese market," the prime minister emphasized.
According to Meloni, her visit aims to strengthen cooperation with one of the largest economies in the world and to equalize trade relations. This is the Italian prime minister's first visit to Beijing since Italy pulled out of Chinese President Xi Jinping's flagship "Belt and Road" initiative last year. However, Meloni has indicated that he wants to rebalance ties with Beijing.
Italy is strategically important to China as it could act as a moderating voice within the European Union as the bloc's 27 members back the Commission on tariffs on Chinese electric cars.
In 2019, Italy became the only member of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies to join the "Belt and Road" infrastructure investment scheme, which aims to revive the ancient Silk Road trade route. Last year, under pressure from the United States, the country left the program. However, Italy is still keen to develop its trade ties with China.
"As I have said many times, we were the only nation among the great nations of Western Europe that was part of the Silk Road. But we were not the nation that had the best trade with China. Far from it," Meloni told reporters a day after meeting Xi.
During a meeting at a Beijing state guesthouse, Meloni told Xi that Italy plays an important role in China's relations with the EU and added that he hopes for a trade relationship that is "as balanced as possible".
EU members will vote in October on whether to impose more tariffs on Chinese electric cars. Italy is one of the countries that has indicated it will support the proposal.