Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said trade with China has not improved as expected since Rome joined the Belt and Road Initiative.
"European countries not participating in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) are doing better than us. Therefore, Italy will decide whether or not to continue participating in the initiative. In parliament, many parties oppose this," Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said at the Ambrosetti economic forum on September 2, before embarking on a three-day trip to China.
Italy joined the BRI in 2019 under the previous government , becoming the first G7 nation to cooperate within President Xi Jinping's ambitious infrastructure framework, despite opposition from the United States.
However, Tajani, who also serves as Deputy Prime Minister , acknowledged that "the Belt and Road Initiative has not yielded the results we expected." "Bilateral trade has not improved as anticipated since we joined the BRI four years ago," he said.
Rome is unlikely to renew its agreement with China when it expires in March 2024, but will not officially withdraw from the agreement until December.
Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani in Rome, Italy, on September 1st. Photo: Reuters
On July 30, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in an interview with the local newspaper Corriere della Sera that Rome had made an "impulsive and bad" decision to join the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). He said the agreement did little to boost Italian exports to China, while exports in the opposite direction surged.
"The current challenge is how to withdraw from the BRI without damaging our relationship with Beijing. Because China is both our rival and our partner," Crosetto said.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also stated that joining the BRI was a "big mistake" by the previous government and that over the past year her administration has been seeking to withdraw from the agreement.
China subsequently sent a senior diplomat to Italy to persuade the country to renew the agreement, while declaring that Rome had been "right" to join the BRI. The Chinese Foreign Ministry also dismissed news of Italy's withdrawal from the BRI as "malicious exaggeration" aimed at disrupting cooperation and dividing the two countries.
Thanh Tam (According to Reuters, CNBC )
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