Meloni wants to shape trade relations with China "fairer"
**Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni signed a Three-Year Action Plan for economic cooperation with Chinese Premier Li Qiang. According to Meloni during her visit to Beijing, she wants to explore new opportunities for cooperation with China through the document. The exact contents of the Action Plan were not disclosed.
Meloni also spoke about wanting to make Italy's trade relations "fairer," as reported by the Italian news agency Ansa. Last year, Italy's trade deficit with China exceeded 40 billion Euro.
At an Economic Forum in Beijing on Sunday, the Prime Minister also criticized the imbalance in investments: "Chinese investments in Italy account for about one third of Italian investments in China," said the 47-year-old politician. She would like to see this gap narrowed.
Meloni arrived in Beijing on Saturday. It is expected that she will meet with China's State Council Chairman Xi Jinping for talks on Monday.
Relations between Italy and China have recently been marked by disagreements. In December, Meloni informed the Chinese side of Italy's exit from the Chinese prestige project for a "New Silk Road." Since 2019, Italy, as the only country of the G7 group of major democratic economic powers (G7), had been a member of Xi Jinping's infrastructure project as the State and Party Chief of China. The decision was made by the previous Roman government, in which Meloni was not involved. The reason given for Italy's withdrawal is that the economic hopes associated with membership had not been met.**
During Meloni's state visit to Beijing, she emphasized the importance of strengthening business relationships through the signed Three-Year Action Plan, aiming to reduce the imbalance in investments between Italy and China. Furthermore, the Italian Prime Minister expressed her intention to renegotiate the terms of China's investments in Italy, hoping to make Italy's trade relations with China fairer, as highlighted in an Economic Forum in Beijing.
