Jaishankar visits Italy less than a month after Rajnath Singh’s Rome trip

India is making a big push to expand partnership with Italy, its key partner in the Mediterranean region, with external affairs minister S. Jaishankar travelling to Rome this week to engage with the top leadership less than month after defence minister Rajnath Singh visit to the country.

Jaishankar will be in Rome this week to meet his Italian counterpart Antonio Tajani, minister of defence, and minister for ‘Made in Italy’, officials said. He will also address a joint session of the Italian Senate’s External Affairs and Defence Commission, and EU Affairs Commission and India-Italy Parliamentary Friendship Group, and meet members of the Indian community, the officials added.

ET has learnt that the government has taken a conscious decision to step up ties with countries in the Mediterranean. PM Narendra Modi visited Greece in August on his way back from the BRICS Summit in South Africa. As India puts legacy issues behind and steps up ties with Italy, Jaishankar’s trip comes amid Italy’s decision to quit China’s Belt and Road Initiative.


During Singh’s visit, India and Italy signed a defence cooperation agreement to promote cooperation in varied defence domains such as “security and defence policy, R&D, education in military field, maritime domain awareness, sharing of defence information and industrial cooperation, including co-development, co-production and setting up of joint ventures”. Singh was on a visit to Italy and France from October 9 to 12.

“During the meeting, both sides discussed a host of defence cooperation issues, including training, sharing of information, maritime exercises and maritime security. The focus was on the opportunities in defence industrial cooperation,” the defence ministry had said in a statement on the bilateral talks. “The two Ministers discussed the complementary capacities of India and Italy in defence and the possibilities of joint development.”

Singh had suggested fostering the interaction of the Indian start-ups with the Italian defence companies, the statement had said.

The relationship between India and Italy was elevated to Strategic Partnership in March 2023 during the visit of Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni to India.

During the two-day state visit, Meloni’s first after being elected as prime minister last year, she had also announced that Italy would join the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative. At the time, PM Narendra Modi had said new opportunities were opening up in India in co-production and co-development, which can be beneficial for both countries.

Modi had also invited Italian defence companies to actively participate in the Make in India initiative. The two countries have also decided to hold joint exercises and training courses between the armed forces of the two countries on a regular basis.