India and Italy signed a Mobility and Migration Partnership Agreement to facilitate a smooth movement of workers, students, and professionals between the two countries. External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar met with Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Rome, Italy and had a comprehensive and productive discussion regarding the matter, followed by the signing of the agreement.
Indian Community in Italy:
There are an approximate number of 1,80,000 Indians in Italy. It has the third-largest number of Indians in Europe after the UK and the Netherlands. As the majority of the diaspora are first-generation migrants, most of them are engaged in economic sectors like agriculture, dairy farming, the service industry, the leather industry, and construction work. Dr. Jaishankar himself noted that there are at least 5,000 Indian students pursuing their education in Italy at present. The small and medium-scale industries also attract a large number of Indian employees.
Address at the Joint Session with the Senate and Defence Commission:
Dr. Jaishankar pointed out the number of times delegates from both countries have visited each other to further bilateral relations. He highlighted the close ties between the two countries when it comes to trade, because Italy is India’s fourth-largest trading partner in the European Union. At least 750 Italian companies have invested around $6.3 billion in India. There are a minimum of 150 Indian companies in Italy. He emphasized on the importance of India’s relationship with the EU and the EU member states in order to together counter the various issues that the world is facing—climate change, terrorism, and maritime security, to name a few.
Recent Italian Partnerships with India:
India and Italy have been sharing several common forums and platforms that were either initiated by India or have India as one of the partners. Some of them are the International Solar Alliance, the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, the Agreement on the India-Middle East Economic Corridor, and most significantly, the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative, in which Italy agreed to assume the responsibility of facilitating academic exchanges between the two countries. With the recent partnership signed, the bilateral relationship between the two countries will be further strengthened.
Dr. Jaishankar is on the last leg of his visit to Portugal and Italy and is currently in Rome. In his meeting with Antonio Tajani, he “conversed about deepening our strategic partnership. I agree that potential in agro-tech, innovation, space, defence and the digital domain should be explored.” He also appreciated Italy’s continued support for India’s initiatives and G20 presidency. The two countries also agreed on a cultural exchange programme and signed it.
