2023-09-05 07:00:02
BEIJING (AP) — China’s foreign minister is trying to convince his Italian counterpart of the advantages of the “Belt and Road Initiative,” President Xi Jinping’s flagship project that includes building and financing infrastructure projects , while Rome studies whether to renew the agreement.
In a meeting on Monday, Wang Yi told Antonio Tajani that bilateral trade had risen from 50 billion US dollars to nearly 80,000 US dollars, with Italy’s exports to China increasing by around 30% in the past five years.
Although the figures have not been corroborated, the conservative Italian government has raised doubts regarding the benefits of the deal.
In 2019, Italy became the only European country to sign on to the initiative under its then Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, and it is not expected to be extended until the end of the year.
According to Xinhua, China’s official news agency, Wang told Tajani that “China and Italy should adhere to the correct way of cooperating,” with mutual respect and trust in the face of geopolitical disturbances, and that Beijing is willing to push for China’s stable development. relations between the two nations.
“Italy supports the dialogue with Beijing also at the level of the European Union, and an open and frank dialogue on principles and rights,” Tajani said, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.
China presents the “Belt and Road Initiative” as a success for building infrastructure in underdeveloped countries. Critics point out that he built vain projects in nations that needed to eradicate poverty and basic services, and governments are left with enormous doubts with Chinese state banks under contracts shrouded in secrecy.
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