PM Modi and Italian PM Giorgia Meloni met in Johannesburg and adopted a joint initiative to counter financing of terrorism.
Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to combating terrorism and reviewed progress under the India–Italy Strategic Partnership, including the 2025–29 Action Plan.
They discussed expanding cooperation in trade, defence, education, technology, AI, space, and strengthening supply chains through enhanced business and industry collaboration.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on Sunday to discuss ways to strengthen bilateral ties in a number of areas, including trade, defence, and security, India and Italy announced a joint initiative for cooperation in combating financing of terrorism.
The two leaders reaffirmed their shared commitment to combating terrorism by adopting the India-Italy Joint Initiative to Counter Financing of Terrorism at their meeting on the fringes of the G20 conference in Johannesburg.
"Had a very good meeting with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. The India-Italy Strategic Partnership is growing from strength to strength, greatly benefitting the people of our nations," Modi said in a post on social media after the meeting.
"India and Italy are announcing a Joint Initiative for cooperation in combating financing of terrorism. This is a necessary and timely effort, which will strengthen humanity’s fight against terrorism and its support networks," Modi said.
In response to the terrorist attack in Delhi, Prime Minister Meloni reaffirmed Italy's steadfast commitment to cooperating with India in the fight against terrorism.
According to Modi, he also talked about expanding bilateral cooperation in areas like education, trade, investment, military, innovation, artificial intelligence, and space.
Earlier in June of this year, the two presidents had a brief conversation on the fringes of the G7 Summit in Kananaskis, Canada.
"Both leaders adopted the ‘India-Italy Joint Initiative to Counter Financing of Terrorism’. The initiative aims to deepen bilateral cooperation on countering terrorism and collaboration in global and multilateral platforms, including the Financial Action Task Force ( FATF) and the Global Counter terrorism Forum (GCTF)," the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
The two leaders reviewed and positively assessed the developments in the bilateral Strategic Partnership across sectors such as trade and investment, defence, security, space, science & technology, education, and people-to-people ties, it said.
Both leaders expressed satisfaction over the progress being made on the Joint Strategic Action Plan 2025-29, which would benefit the two economies and peoples, it added.
The two leaders welcomed the two Business Forums that were organised this year in Brescia and New Delhi, both of which had strong industry participation.
In order to improve the competitiveness of both economies and create robust supply chains, they highlighted the continuous efforts to expand business, technology, innovation, and investment collaborations.
They welcomed the Italian Space delegation's recent visit to India, which will strengthen cooperation in this area between the public and private sectors.
