India Italy Relations

India and Italy are ancient civilizations but young states (Italy having been reunified only in 1861). These two ancient civilizations have known, interacted and traded with each other for over 2000 years. Modern day contacts between the two nations were formed through exchanges between the intellectuals from both sides. Noble Laureate Rabindranath Tagore visited Italy in1926, on invitation of Carlo Formichi, a Professor of Sanskrit at the University of Rome. Mahatma Gandhi visited Rome in 1931 on his way back to India from the Round Table Conference in London. Leaders of the Indian freedom struggle read the works of the Italian revolutionary Mazzini of early 19th century, who worked for a Democratic Republic of Italy. Indian troops, serving with the British Indian Army, were active in Italy during the World War II.



India Italy Political Relations

Political relations between India and Italy were established in 1947. The two countries enjoy a cordial relationship. There has been a regular exchange of visits at political and official levels between both countries. From the Indian side, at the level of Head of State/Government, the visit (s) date back to 1953 & 1955 when Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru visited Italy followed by Prime Minister Smt. Indira Gandhi in November 1981; President of India Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma in October 1996; Prime Minister Shri H.D. Deve Gowda in November 1996; Prime Minister Shri I.K. Gujral in September 1997; Prime Minister Shri A.B. Vajpayee in June 2000; and Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh in July 2009.

From the Italian side, the first visit at the level of Head of State/Government took place in 1988 when Prime Minister Mr. Giovanni Goria visited India. This was followed by President Dr. Oscar Luigi Scalfaro in Feb 1995; Prime Minister Prof. Romano Prodi in Jan 1998; President Mr. Carlo Azeglio Ciampi in Feb 2005; and Prime Minister Mr. Romano Prodi in Feb 2007;

Both countries regularly hold an institutionalized Senior Officials Dialogue (Foreign Office Consultations). An Italy-India Parliamentary Friendship Association was established in the IPU Italy Chapter in 2004.

India Italy Bilateral trade

Italy is among India's top 5 trading partners in the EU and the 12th largest investor in India. The balance of trade has been in India’s favor since the early eighties. The bilateral trade witnessed a strong growth till 2007, before the world-wide recession of 2008 led to a marked slowdown in Italian economy, as a result of which the bilateral trade registered a negative annual growth rate of 13% in 2009 amounting to € 5.65 billion. This contrasts strikingly with the cumulative growth figure of over 75% during the period 2005-07 (i.e. before the 2008 global economic downturn). However, in 2010-11, the bilateral trade has registered a robust growth (+ 28% yoy) to reach € 7.21 billion.

Main items of Indian exports to Italy are ready-made garments, leather, iron ore, motor vehicles, textiles, chemicals, gems & jewelry. Main items of import from Italy are general and special purpose machinery, machine tools, metallurgical products, engineering items. Around 140 large Italian company are active in India. Some of the major Italian companies that have invested in India are FIAT Auto, Heinz Italia, FIOlA, Italcementi, Necchi Compressori, Perfetti, Lavazza, Fata Hunter Engineering, ENI, SAI India, Isagro (Asia) Agrochemicals, Piaggio, and Impreglio, SEA Deutzfahr Group, Finmeccanica SpA, Ferrero. Indian companies are present in Italy in sectors such as IT, electronics, pharmaceuticals, automobile, textile and engineering. The prominent companies operating in Italy include Tata, TCS, Wipro, Satyam Mahindra, Engineers India Limited, L&T, Mahindra & Mahindra, Ranbaxy, Raymonds, Jet Airways etc SBI has a representative office in Milan. Six Italian banks have representation in India.

The Joint Economic Commission is an institutional dialogue chaired by the respective Commerce Ministers of both countries. Under the JEC, there are Joint Working Groups in the following areas: Infrastructure, Tourism, Railways, Food Processing, Renewable Energy, Information Technology and Agriculture. The 18th session of the JEC was held in New Delhi in December 2009.

India Italy Cultural Exchange , Scientific Co-operation etc.

An Agreement for Cultural Cooperation has been in existence since 1976. Under the Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP), exchange of students to learn languages and to undergo various academic courses continues. There are 10 universities/institutions in Italy with courses on Indian history and languages including Hindi and Sanskrit.

An umbrella Agreement on S&T Co-operation exists since 1978. The Agreement envisages three-yearly action plans under which a maximum of thirty joint research projects can be undertaken. Some of the prime areas of joint research are Electronics, Biotechnology, Design Engineering Automotive Technologies, Energy, etc.

Indian Community in Italy

The Indian community in Italy is now the second largest community of Indians in Europe after the U (estimated population around 150000).

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