Italy-India Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025-2029
Context
Recently, during the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro, the Prime Ministers of India and Italy unveiled a roadmap for the Italy-India Joint Strategic Action Plan for 2025-2029, which plans to enhance the bilateral partnership through targeted initiatives across multiple sectors.
Relevance:
GS-02 (International Relations)
Key Highlights
- Political Dialogue:
- Regular high-level engagements between Heads of Government, Foreign Ministers, and Defence Ministers to foster a stronger strategic partnership.
- Annual bilateral consultations between senior officials of the two Foreign Ministries to streamline and deepen mutual cooperation.
- Economic Cooperation and Investments
- Strengthening trade relations and investments in high-potential sectors such as transportation, food processing, green technologies, and pharmaceuticals.
- Focus on co-development and production in industries like semiconductors, advanced manufacturing, and infrastructure.
- Promoting participation in trade fairs and business forums to enhance industrial partnerships and economic exchange.
- Connectivity
- Collaborating on sustainable transportation and enhancing maritime and land infrastructure under the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC).
- Finalising agreements to bolster maritime and port sector cooperation.
- Science, Technology, and Innovation
- Expanding ties in critical technologies like artificial intelligence, telecom, and digital services.
- Joint research initiatives in Industry 4.0, clean energy, and critical minerals engage academia, SMEs, and start-ups from both nations.
- Launch of the Indo-Italian Innovation and Incubation Exchange Programme to foster collaboration in innovation ecosystems.
- Space Sector
- Enhancing cooperation between the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) in areas like Earth observation, lunar science, and heliophysics.
- Promoting mutual commercial ventures involving industries and start-ups in the space sector.
- Hosting a delegation of Italian space industry representatives in India by mid-2025 to explore further research and collaboration opportunities.
- Energy Transition
- Joint R&D in renewable energy technologies, including green hydrogen and biofuels.
- Strengthening global partnerships such as the Global Biofuels Alliance and International Solar Alliance.
- Sharing expertise on energy efficiency, grid solutions, and sustainable energy advancements.
- Defence Cooperation
- Conducting regular Joint Defence Consultative Meetings and Joint Staff Talks to coordinate information exchange and training activities.
- Exploring technology collaborations and co-production of defence equipment.
- Strengthening maritime cooperation, including search-and-rescue operations and pollution response.
- Security Cooperation
- Enhancing cybersecurity measures and combating cybercrimes through regular dialogue and capacity-building programmes.
- Strengthening cooperation against terrorism at bilateral, regional, and international levels.
- Concluding agreements on the mutual protection and exchange of classified information.
- Migration and Mobility
Facilitating safe and legal migration channels with a pilot project to train Indian health professionals for employment in Italy.
Boosting mobility for students, researchers, and academicians through agreements on education and skill development.
- Cultural, Academic, and Tourism Cooperation
- Promoting collaborations between universities and cultural institutions to enhance people-to-people exchanges.
- Supporting joint film productions and restoration of heritage sites.
- Acknowledging the contribution of Indian and Italian communities in strengthening bilateral ties.
