Premier Giorgia Meloni this weekend starts a five-day visit to China - her first trip there since taking office - that will aim to bolster bilateral ties and attract Chinese investment to spur Italy's sluggish economic growth.
Meloni's visit from Saturday through Wednesday at the invitation of Chinese premier Li Qiaang, will allow a revamp of bilateral ties in sectors of common interest, according to well-placed Italian sources.
The visit follows intense contact between Italy and China's institutions which have seen the relaunch of the chief dialogue mechanisms with China, including the inter-government committee and the joint economic commission, according to the sources.
Meloni's trip will help propel bilateral trade, which was worth 66.8 billion euros in 2023, making China Italy's second biggest non-EU trade partner after the US. Italy's direct foreign investments in China are worth 15 billion euros and over 1,600 Italian companies operate there in the textile, mechanical , pharmaceutical, energy and heavy industry sectors.
During the trip, Meloni and Li will take part in the 7th Italy-China Business Forum, with a view to ramping up bilateral industrial cooperation, according to the sources.
The visit, which comes on the 20th anniversary of Italy and China's Global Strategic Partnership and the 700th anniversary of explorer Marco Polo's death will allow the two countries to deepen "already excellent cultural ties," said the sources.
"The 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death has spawned a vast number of joint initiatives including a major exhibition on Marco Polo at the World Art Museum in Beijing, which will be inaugurated by Meloni and China's culture and tourism minister Sun Yeli," sources said.
Academic cooperation forms another backdrop to Meloni's visit. There are over 15,000 Chinese students studying in Italy's higher education instutions - the largest group of foreign students while there are around 16,000 students studying Italian in China.
Meloni's visit is the first since the government last year pulled out of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) multi-billion dollar foreign policy programme, claiming it had brought Italy scarce economic benefit while vowing the move would not harm relations with China. Italy was the only G7 country to sign up in 2019 for the BRI, one of China's most ambitious infrastructure and trade plans.
