New Delhi, Dec 9 (IANS) Italian Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani will arrive here on Wednesday for a three-day official visit to India.

During his visit, Tajani will hold talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar in New Delhi on Wednesday. He will travel to Mumbai and attend official engagements on Thursday, according to a media advisory issued by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

Tajani is scheduled to depart from Mumbai on Friday after concluding his engagements in India.

On November 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni held talks on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in South Africa’s Johannesburg and discussed deepening bilateral ties across various sectors, including trade, investment, defence, innovation, AI, space and education.

Following the meeting, PM Modi in a post on X wrote, “Had a very good meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The India-Italy Strategic Partnership is growing from strength to strength, greatly benefitting the people of our nations.”

In another post on X, PM Modi said: “We discussed further advancing our cooperation in sectors such as trade, investment, defence, innovation, AI, space and education.”

“India and Italy are announcing a Joint Initiative for cooperation in combating financing of terrorism. This is a necessary and timely effort, which will strengthen humanity’s fight against terrorism and its support networks,” he added.

Earlier in September, Jaishankar met Tajani on the sidelines of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York and discussed bilateral ties, developments in the Mediterranean, Middle East, Ukraine, and Indo-Pacific.

Diplomatic ties between India and Italy were established in 1947. India and Italy celebrated the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2023. The two countries enjoy a strong people-to-people connect with a large Indian diaspora, according to the MEA. Italy is India’s fourth largest trading partner in the European Union after Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.

–IANS

akl/vd