Unstinting work to build "cultural bridges" will strengthen Italy's friendship with China, "constructive coexistence" and boost their cooperation on global challenges, president Sergio Mattarella told Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping on Friday during a state visit.
"Friendship is nourished by culture, by mutual knowledge, by listening, by dialogue, by understanding, that is, by culture," Mattarella told Xi after talks between their respective delegations at the Italy-China Cultural Forum.
"I hope therefore that the continuous and active hard work of building cultural bridges between our peoples, between China and Italy, supported by the Forum and today enriched by the dialogue between the (university) rectors, will help bolster the friendship between us," Mattarella continued.
"This is the foundation for constructive coexistence and provides the impetus for joint efforts towards conciliation in the face of global challenges.”
Mattarella paid tribute to Italian Jesuit priest and a founding figure of Jesuit China missions, Matteo Ricci, and to 13th-century Venetian merchant Marco Polo, saying they symbolised "the profound relations between China and Italy.
"Friendship is more useful to the world than riches," Mattarella said, quoting Ricci.
