Pak Sahafat – Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, while announcing the possibility of withdrawing from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, emphasized that it is possible to have good relations with Beijing even without this agreement.
According to Pak Sahafat News Agency’s report, quoted by Reuters, while the Italian government is considering the withdrawal plan from China’s Belt and Road Agreement, the country’s prime minister announced in a news interview published on Sunday that good relations with Beijing are possible even without being part of the agreement.
Italy is the only major western country that has joined the Belt and Road Initiative; A plan to rebuild the Silk Road to connect China to other parts of Asia, Europe and beyond.
Meloni emphasized in an interview with Il Masagro daily newspaper of Rome: It is still too early to talk about the consequences of staying or leaving the Belt and Road Plan.
In 2019, Italy joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative, and this move drew sharp criticism from Washington and Brussels.
He continued: This contract will expire in March 2024 and will be renewed automatically, unless each of the parties informs the other that they are leaving, and they must notify each other at least three months before that.
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In an interview with Reuters last year, before coming to power in September, Meloni said that he was against joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative and emphasized that the political will to support the expansion of China’s presence in Italy And Europe doesn’t have it.
Last year, in an interview with Reuters and before he came to power in September, Meloni said that he was against joining China’s Belt and Road Initiative and emphasized that the political will to support the expansion of China’s presence in Italy or Europe does not have.
However, in his interview with Chap Rome newspaper today, he pointed out that while Italy is the only G7 member country that has signed this agreement with China, it does not have very strong economic and trade relations with Beijing.
The Italian prime minister noted that this meant that it was possible to have good relations with Beijing, but it was not necessarily part of the deal.
Earlier this month, a senior Italian government official told Reuters that Rome was unlikely to renew the Belt and Road Agreement with Beijing.
The statements of the Italian Prime Minister come while the leaders of the Group of Seven pledged to “de-risk” the reduction of dependence on China; An approach that seems to indicate European and Japanese concerns about excessive pressure on Beijing and its countermeasures.