The EU–India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) comes at a moment of profound geoeconomic realignment, where trade policy, economic security, and supply-chain diversification increasingly overlap. Alongside the strengthening of ties between Brussels and New Delhi—and the parallel deepening of India–U.S. relations—India is emerging as one of the key stabilizing poles in an international system marked by fragmentation and strategic competition.
In this context, Italy aims to play an active role by leveraging its industrial strengths, logistical positioning, and strategic cooperation across the Indo-Mediterranean, as outlined by the ambassador.
Why he matters: Antonio Bartoli has been Italy’s Ambassador to India and Nepal since July 29, 2024, a posting that coincides with a period of renewed momentum in India–Italy relations.
- He is witnessing first-hand a phase of strategic deepening marked by stronger political alignment and expanding cooperation.
- This reinvigoration was formalized last year with the Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025–2029, which places a strong emphasis on industrial cooperation, technology, and defense, alongside trade, connectivity, and security.
- Bartoli’s role sits at the center of this evolving partnership, at the intersection of diplomacy, geoeconomics, and Indo-Mediterranean strategy.
Q: With the final announcement of the EU–India Free Trade Agreement, a phase of near-complete integration between the two commercial systems is opening, set to multiply economic and industrial opportunities. In this new context, in which sectors can Italy express a specific value added, both in response to Indian market needs and in light of the progressive reduction of tariff and customs barriers envisaged by the agreement?
Q: Europe and India together account for roughly a quarter of global GDP—a market of over two billion people. The signing of the Free Trade Agreement marks a historic turning point. The EU is India’s leading trading partner. According to several estimates, bilateral trade—currently exceeding €120 billion—is expected to double by the end of the next decade. India is the world’s fourth-largest economy and the fastest-growing in terms of GDP. The world’s most populous market represents an opportunity that cannot be missed.
- The agreement will bring significant reductions in tariff barriers, opening important prospects for Italian companies looking to expand in the Indian market. This includes industrial machinery—already accounting for 40% of Italian exports—as well as automotive components, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals.
- It also includes wine, whose tariff will gradually fall from the current 150% to 20%, and other products such as olive oil and pasta, whose tariffs will be eliminated altogether.
- Our prime ministers have agreed to raise bilateral trade to €20 billion by 2029. More trade means more investment, but also more employment and greater mobility of talent and professions.
- Italy is Europe’s second-largest manufacturing country, and India looks with great interest at cooperation with Italy in several areas of recognized excellence: mechanical engineering and agricultural machinery, industrial design and furniture, defense and space industries, the circular economy, technologies for culture and sport, and much more.
- With this agreement, we will bring more Italy to India and more India to Italy.
One of the elements expected to act as a structural “structural catalys” of EU–India relations is the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), which aims to strengthen physical and logistical integration between India and Europe via the Middle East. At the same time, the project faces geopolitical and operational complexities. In this scenario, can Italy already move in a pragmatic and anticipatory way, for example by developing bilateral links between port hubs such as Trieste and Mumbai?
- Absolutely. IMEC is a long-term perspective that requires conviction and vision, even beyond the ongoing tensions in the Middle East. In the meantime, Italy and India can move forward with concrete projects that are functional to the corridor’s success.
- As peninsular countries projecting into a shared basin—the Indo-Mediterranean—an increasingly integrated and interdependent space, Italy and India share converging visions and interests.
- We intend to create a corridor for accelerated and fully digitalized port customs procedures.
- We will soon complete the laying of a high-capacity subsea digital cable for high-speed data traffic between our markets.
- We will also continue to deepen synergies in infrastructure, logistics, and energy. On these issues, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani will host a conference in Trieste on March 17, open to partner countries and neighboring European states, aimed at mobilizing the private sector in support of IMEC.
- We expect strong participation from companies and stakeholders from India, as well as from other countries along the corridor.
Strategic cooperation between the European Union and India is also expanding into security and defense. What role can Italy play, both on the industrial level and on the operational level, particularly with regard to maritime security in the Indo-Mediterranean?
- Cybersecurity, countering hybrid threats and terrorism, cooperation in the defense industry, and more. The recent visit to New Delhi by European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen placed priority focus—alongside the FTA and mobility—on security and defense.
- The EU and India have signed a strategic partnership, and Italy has been moving in the same direction for some time.
- Security and defense are central to the joint action plan adopted in 2024 by Prime Ministers Giorgia Meloni and Narendra Modi.
- Just days ago, Leonardo and Adani signed a new alliance in the helicopter sector. Italy stands alongside India in projects of co-production, co-development, and the sharing of high-quality technologies and services.
- Together with New Delhi, we support the principles of stability, freedom of navigation, and the protection of trade in the Indo-Mediterranean.
- We have intensified the presence of Italian naval units in Indian ports and carried out joint exercises between our navies.
- We will soon launch a dedicated maritime security dialogue to enhance the sharing of best practices, information exchange, and interoperability between our respective assets.
The bottom line: The EU–India Free Trade Agreement is not merely a trade deal, but a strategic instrument linking economic integration, connectivity, and security.
- For Italy, the opportunity lies in acting early—leveraging industrial strength, ports, digital infrastructure, and maritime cooperation to position itself as a central node in the emerging Indo-Mediterranean system, rather than a peripheral beneficiary of it.
