Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have stated that India-Italy relations are entering a decisive and transformative phase, driven by innovation, democratic values, strategic alignment, and growing economic cooperation.
In a joint article released during PM Modi’s visit to Rome, the two leaders highlighted the rapid expansion of bilateral ties and described the relationship as a “Special Strategic Partnership” grounded in shared principles of freedom, democracy, and a common vision for the future.
The leaders noted that the partnership between India and Italy has gained unprecedented momentum in recent years, evolving from a cordial friendship into a broad-based strategic relationship encompassing trade, defence, technology, energy transition, and industrial cooperation.
Prime Minister Modi shared that both countries are committed to building a future-oriented partnership through sustained political engagement, institutional collaboration, and deeper strategic coordination. He emphasised that the India-Italy relationship now reflects a higher level of mutual trust and long-term geopolitical understanding.
According to the joint article, the changing global order has opened new opportunities for stronger cooperation between democratic nations with complementary strengths. Both leaders stated that India and Italy are well-positioned to jointly address global challenges while shaping future economic and technological trends.
The article underlined that prosperity and security in the 21st century will increasingly depend on innovation, strategic sovereignty, and successful energy transitions. India and Italy agreed to diversify and deepen bilateral engagement by leveraging their respective capabilities in manufacturing, engineering, clean technology, and digital innovation.
The two nations also highlighted plans to create powerful industrial synergies by combining Italy’s globally recognised strengths in design, advanced manufacturing, precision engineering, and supercomputing with India’s rapidly growing economy, engineering talent, startup ecosystem, and scalable innovation capacity.
The leaders described this collaboration not merely as economic integration but as a co-creation of long-term value that strengthens supply chains and industrial resilience for both countries.
Trade and investment emerged as another major pillar of the expanding partnership. PM Modi and Giorgia Meloni reiterated their commitment to achieving and surpassing the 20-billion-Euro bilateral trade target by 2028. They identified clean technologies, renewable energy, machinery, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, automotive components, textiles, tourism, and agri-food as key sectors for future growth.
The leaders also stressed the importance of the proposed India-European Union Free Trade Agreement, stating that it would significantly strengthen bilateral trade and investment flows between India and Italy.
Industrial cooperation between businesses from both countries has also accelerated in recent years. The two leaders noted growing Italian interest in manufacturing opportunities in India under the “Make in India” initiative, while Indian companies continue expanding their presence in Italy. More than 1,000 businesses from both sides are now actively contributing to bilateral economic integration and supply chain cooperation.
Technology and innovation were identified as central pillars of the next phase of India-Italy relations. The leaders said emerging sectors such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, advanced manufacturing, critical minerals, and digital infrastructure would define future cooperation between the two countries.
The strengthening India-Italy partnership is increasingly being viewed as part of a broader strategic alignment between India and Europe amid changing geopolitical realities, economic restructuring, and the global push for resilient supply chains and technology partnerships.
