Last week, the Italian leadership made it clear that it would withdraw from the investment agreement with China before the end of the year. by agency BloombergItalian Prime Minister George Meloni told US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy at a meeting in Rome.
It was announced that the final decision has not been made yet. The reason for the decision is the deterioration of relations.
Italy is the only G7 country to join the Belt and Road Initiative (UK, Canada, USA, Germany, Italy, France and Japan).
We are talking about the New Silk Road initiative, a new pan-Eurasian transport system project promoted by China in cooperation with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and other countries for the land transport of goods and passengers from China to European countries.
A memorandum of understanding between China and Italy was signed in 2019. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the signing ceremony.
Bloomberg pointed out that Italy’s willingness to cooperate with China is causing concern in the US and EU. There were concerns in the West that Beijing would gain access to Italian infrastructure, namely telecommunications and ports.
Xi Jinping during his previous meeting with Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin knowledgeableInviting Vladimir Putin to visit China in 2023 at a convenient time for the Russian leader. The Chinese president noted that this year, China will host the third international high-level forum “One Belt – One Road”. Xi Jinping recalled that Putin had taken part in previous forums.