You spoke of ten areas where the two countries are cooperating…
Ambassador Antonio Bartoli: Our aim is to enhance and rebalance both trade and investments. Bilateral trade exchange between our countries is in total more than €14 billion, €9 billion of India’s export to Italy and €5 billion of Italy’s export to India. In investments, Italy is making a lot of headway. We have more than €7 billion of Italian FDI in India. And we calculated that new investments, realised or announced, in the first half of 2025 amount to approximately an additional half billion euros. We also want to attract important strategic investments from Indian entrepreneurs to Italy. Deepening economic ties between friendly countries like us is a key factor in supply chain resilience.
What is the promise that the ‘India, Middle East, Europe Economic Corridor’ wants to deliver?
Ambassador Antonio Bartoli: The idea of IMEC is rooted in the past. It existed already 2000 years ago, at the time of Emperor Augustus. Then it was a “golden road”. Ancient Rome and India traded spices, textiles and coins. Today, there is again a close convergence of the two seas, the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean. Italy and India are platforms in their respective maritime [sectors]. As we see it, we are part of the same Indo-Mediterranean region, which makes us natural terminals of the IMEC corridor, which will involve goods, investments and also cutting-edge infrastructures. For instance, an Italian company, Telecom Italia’s Sparkle, is putting a cable underwater to build a high-speed data highway between Mumbai and Genoa.
Spotlight WireThe two countries have a mobility agreement. How is that going to shape up and be an example for many other countries to look at that partnership?
Ambassador Antonio Bartoli: The exchange between Italy and India, of course, also involves talents and ideas. Mobility is a key area of our dialogue. Italy is experiencing a demograhic shift, and that causes some shortages in our labour market. For example, in the health sector, data suggest Italy needs around 45,000 doctors and 65,000 nurses. In the manufacturing sector, 280,000 workers. And in hospitality, around 252,000. There is a space for a win-win collaboration. The Migration and Mobility Agreement that our governments signed is an instrument to bring Indian skilled workers to Italy.
You also wanted to talk a little bit about the cooperation between the two countries in space and defence.
Ambassador Antonio Bartoli: Space is a driver of innovation, business and research. Just a few days ago, 13 of the best Italian space companies had a business mission to Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Delhi. Our space cooperation with India spans across different sectors: from space exploration to earth observation. India, being the fourth country to land on the moon, is in the top tier of space nations. And Italy is a solid and reliable partner. Our industry covers the whole space value chain. We can do a lot together, especially in terms of collaboration between agencies. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Italian counterpart (ASI) have already identified projects to work together on. Also, in defence, we can untap the huge potential of cooperation between our industries. For instance, in co-development and co-production projects.
That gets me to the point of culture. How is that being pushed by the Embassy in India?
Ambassador Antonio Bartoli: Very much so. Italy and India are both top-ranking countries on the UNESCO Heritage list. What links us is also being heirs to ancient civilisations. This is also why we are promoting an ever closer interaction between our societies and cultural worlds. Just over the last few months, we have brought for the first time in India a universal artist like Caravaggio, Maddalena in Estasi, to Delhi, Bangalore, and Mumbai. We just closed a wonderful exhibit on Roman mosaics. And there will soon be another iconographic Indo-Mediterranean dialogue.Italy is part of the ICC Cricket World Cup next year and will be visiting India and Sri Lanka, where the matches will be held. It will be wonderful to see.
Ambassador Antonio Bartoli: Absolutely. Sport is a powerful tool of dialogue, friendship and business. Through sport, we can share our experiences and know-how. And learn from each other. We express all our admiration for the leading role India plays in cricket. We are a small, young team in this discipline. And we aim to grow further. Entering the T20 was an incredible achievement. And besides cricket, we are working on advancing the dialogue between multiple Italian and Indian federations to train coaches and players.Disclaimer: This article is published by ET Spotlight team. You can get in touch with them on etspotlight@timesinternet.in.