Rome, Nov 3 (PTI) India and Italy have signed the Mobility and Migration Partnership Agreement to enable seamless movement of workers, students and professionals after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar held a comprehensive and productive meeting with his counterpart Antonio Tajani.
Jaishankar is here on the last leg of his four-day visit to Portugal and Italy.
“A comprehensive and productive meeting this evening with DPM & FM @Antonio_Tajani,” Jaishankar posted on X after the meeting.
“Conversed about deepening our strategic partnership. Agreed that potential in agro-tech, innovation, space, defence and the digital domain should be explored,” he wrote.
“Signed the Mobility and Migration Partnership Agreement and the Cultural Exchange Programme at the end of our talks,” Jaishankar said.
“We believe that this is something which will definitely help to create a legal basis for the mobility of professionals and skills and talent in demand in either society between us,” he said later, while addressing the Joint Session of the Senate’s External Affairs and Defence Commission here.
Terming the bilateral relationship as a “very substantial economic relationship”, Jaishankar said the atmosphere and environment were “very good” between the two countries to increase business.
“We have 750 Italian companies present in India; we welcome them. We would like to see them deepen their presence and do more in India,” Jaishankar said at the joint press briefing.
“We have 150 Indian companies here as well, and the volume of foreign investment should be between USD 6-7 million,” he said.
Talking about the large Indian community in Italy, Jaishankar said there were “180,000 Indians who contribute to the Italian economy”.
The two leaders spoke about the West Asia situation, the Ukraine conflict and the Indo-Pacific landscape in detail.
Jaishankar also appreciated Italy’s support for all major international initiatives of India.
“Appreciated Italy’s support for our initiatives and also for the G20 Presidency,” Jaishankar said in the X post.
The Indian community in Italy, estimated at 180,000, is the third largest community of Indians in Europe after the UK and the Netherlands. As first-generation migrants, the majority of them are engaged in economic sectors such as agriculture, dairy farming, the leather industry, construction works and the service industry. PTI NSA GRS AKJ SCY SCY
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.