A game-changing partnership. The five-year action plan signed this week by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi marks “a highly significant development” within the Indo-Mediterranean context, explained Paolo Messa, Executive Vice President of the National Italian American Foundation, nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Europe Center, and founder of the Italian media company Formiche (which Decode39 is a part of).
- Speaking in an interview with Il Riformista newspaper, Messa highlighted the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which connects India, the Middle East, and Europe, “hopefully through Trieste,” in Northern-Eastern Italy.
- This initiative, he noted, “is poised to reshape global trade dynamics, establishing a new equilibrium as an alternative to [China’s] Belt and Road Initiative.”
Strategic focus on allies. “Since the post-war period,”… Messa remarked, “Italy has always prioritised Europe, the United States, and the broader Mediterranean region.”
- However, he added, “The Meloni government will be remembered for introducing the Indo-Pacific dimension.”
- Messa believes that the focus on the Indo-Pacific and the Mattei Plan for Africa fits within a well-defined strategy.
- “It’s no coincidence that India and Japan regard us as a preferred partner for their expansion into Africa and the Mediterranean. Italy has managed to position itself at the centre of a strategy capable of attracting numerous allies—first and foremost, the United States and the European Union. The political masterpiece, however, has been engaging these actors who were previously seen as ‘distant’,” he concluded.
In the coming days… further developments are expected to underline the growing partnership between Italy and India, as Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is set to visit Italy.
- His trip is likely to reinforce the foundations laid during Meloni and Modi’s discussions, with a particular focus on the Indo-Mediterranean and strategic collaboration in areas such as trade, technology, and security.
