NNWN/New Delhi, 2017-10-31
Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni on Monday night called for more closer cooperation between his country and India, and also stressed the need for a common migration policy for Europe. His statement assume greater significance in the light of the fact that the issue of refugees has come into spotlight in different parts of the world including South Asia.
Delivering the Special Address on “Italy, the EU and India: A strong partnership in a time of global challenges” at an event organised by Observer Research Foundation and the Embassy of Italy, Gentiloni said “Italy saved tens of thousands of lives at sea. The global phenomenon of migration sees us in the frontline. On this we need increasingly multilateral approaches.”“We need a common European policy on migration,” the Italian prime minister, who is on a two-day visit to India, said. “We want to see Africa thrive, socially and economically. Also, because this is the only way to manage migration flows without giving up to our principles and our humanity,” he said.
Italian PM underlined the need for economic inclusion for all-round growth, stability and peace in countries as well as the world. He pointed out that while the world looks in its best shape ever from a distant perspective, in terms of poverty and across-country inequality, nobody lives in a distant perspective. “People live in real contexts, people are not numbers or statistics. We know that in our developed countries and also in newly emerged economies, many strata of the middle-class and the low-earner groups have suffered and are still suffering,” the prime minister said. He said the more we are able to strengthen and develop inclusive growth, in an open global market based on the rule of law and the principles of economic inclusion, the more international tensions will tend to subdue. He said, “we need stronger economic policies, not to increase spending, but to give meaningful answers our citizens.
The prime minister said there are many sectors in which Italy and India can benefit from each other’s talents and expertise, from infrastructure to agro-food, from machine tools to energy and green technologies. Pointing out that we are facing an unstable geo-political scenario in which reasons of concerns are not decreasing, the prime minster mentioned North Korea and international terrorism threat. ORF Trustee and senior Supreme Court counsel Lalit Bhasin said there are lots of potential for cooperation between India and Italy, especially in development as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is focussed on various developmental schemes like Make-in-India, Skill India, etc. He said both the countries could also work jointly in UN commission on terrorism and collectively work in Afghanistan.
Italian prime minister said his country’s trade cooperation with China is open and frank; adding it is positive as far as India is concerned.He also said that both Italy and India are together in opposing increasing trade protectionism, as it is not in the interests of both the countries and the global trade.
