Our Correspondent / New Delhi
India and Italy on Monday signed six agreements and MoUs after a top-level delegation talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni.
According to an statement from the Ministry of External Affairs, the pacts signed include – Joint Declaration of Cooperation for Safety in Railway sector, MoU on 70 years of Diplomatic Relations and also an MoU for promoting mutual investments.
Other pacts covered issues like cooperation in the field of energy and protocol on cultural cooperation.
Diplomatic ties between India and Italy had suffered minor hit following the February 2012 firing by two Italian marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, from MV Enrica Lexie, killing two Indian fishermen off Kerala.
Mr Gentiloni’s visit to India comes after a decade.
Earlier in the morning, the Italian Prime Minsiter was accorded ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also called on Mr Gentiloni and discussed issues of mutual interest. In the evening, the visiting leader will call on President Ram Nath Kovind and Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu.
Mr Gentiloni arrived yesterday on a two-day visit to India. The visit is aimed at strengthening the bilateral political and economic relations between the two countries. A 15-member Italian CEO delegation is accompanying the official delegation. Interaction between the CEOs of the two countries is also being planned.
Over 600 Italian companies are active in India covering various sectors such as fashion, garments, textile and textile machinery, automotive, automotive components industry, infrastructure, energy and insurance.
A number of Indian companies are also present in Italy mainly in IT, electronics, engineering, automotive, pharmaceuticals and railway sectors. Italy is India’s fifth largest trading partner in the European Union with a bilateral trade at 8.79 billion dollars in 2016-17.