India-Italy Manufacturing Partnership in Non-Competing Sectors: Piyush Goyal

Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, announced on Friday that India and Italy have agreed to strengthen co-manufacturing and co-designing in fields where the two countries do not compete but have complementary strengths. Goyal made the comments at a joint press conference with Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Antonio Tajani in New Delhi. He added the countries are looking to create impactful partnerships across areas and convert the strategic partnership into an exhaustive relationship, which would raise India-Italy bilateral trade significantly above the existing $15 billion (about ₹1.29 lakh crore).

“We have shared interests in areas like space. We are working together in the India-Middle East European Corridor, Global Biofuels Alliance, the International Solar Alliance (ISA), Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and are making together the EU-India FTA a reality by the end of the year,” Goyal said.

Goyal went on to say that India sees the potential for resilience in its supply chains by combining Italy's design capabilities and India's skill and scale of high-quality low-cost products, and potential for complementary co-operation in other sectors like food processing, shipbuilding, pharmaceuticals, textiles, luxury and fashion.

Tajani brought about 100 Italian businesspersons with him to be part of the bilateral forum meeting. Both countries agreed to hold the next joint commission for economic cooperation in Italy. Minister Goyal when, he will lead a delegation of Indian business persons to this meeting, stated that it could take place sometime soon, perhaps in a month or two.

“The foundation has been laid, the blueprint is clear and now the time is only to invest, create and grow to a bright future,” Goyal said about the collaboration between India and Italy.