China-Italy Ties: Conte sets sights on Belt & Road Initiative

World
Europe

01:36

Our correspondent Michal Bardavid has also sat down with the Italian prime minister. Guiseppe Conte says the two countries will work together under the Belt and Road Initiative.

An intense collaboration worth more than 40 billion euro. That's last year's figure for China-Italy ties. It shows the relationship from an economic and commercial point of view. And more is coming -

GIUSEPPE CONTE ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER "We have decided to join the BRI as a government because Italy, due to its geographical location is the natural terminal of the BRI. I confess that we trust that we can also improve our exports to be able to enjoy better access conditions for our companies and also the overcoming of tariffs and non-tariff barriers."

The two sides will sign a memorandum on Saturday. Conte says there are no limits to their cooperation. He gave examples of areas like agriculture, aviation and sustainable urbanization.

GIUSEPPE CONTE ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER "Italy is in a strategic position, privileged position to improve dialogue between all cultures and all systems outside of European countries. We will introduce the strategic objectives of Europe as a whole, as well as European principles and standards in the memorandum."

Europe won't be the only beneficiary. The two sides will also work together to respond to global changes, such as reaching targets of UN goals.