Modi & Meloni: Where's the Convergence?Strengthening Strategic Partnerships Amid Nationalist Agendas

So while we see this shift take place, Italy specifically you mentioned, and so ask me to weigh in on this because as far as Prime Minister Georgia Maloney is concerned and her Brothers of Italy party, which has right wing roots, they consolidate this time. They've held their position in the European Union. They've captured 1/4 of the vote. In fact, Mr. Modi has spoken very warmly of Indias bilateral relations with Italy. Do you see a stronger strategic partnership because both hold a more nationalist agenda to that extent? Well, I'm not sure because you know, if you look at the Indian election results, they haven't exactly been a big push for hyper nationalism. The fact that the one single majority party is now in a coalition government in India means that Prime Minister Modi will also have to be sensitive to the idea that this is not necessarily what the mandate was about. I think when it comes to dealing with Italy, actually the real issues with Italy were over the in, if you remember, in the past decade were over the marines who had been accused of killing Kerala fishermen had been convicted and it was about whether they would serve out their terms here or in Italy. Eventually India went to the arbitration and arbitration courts internationally and lost that case. After that, it took a few years to put the India Italy relationship back on track. But since then, year on year, we have seen a growth. We have seen several visits by the Prime Minister, including Prime Minister Maloney, who actually made two visits last year to India for the G20, as well As for the Raisina Dialogue, a bilateral state visit, and then met with Prime Minister Modi on the sidelines of the COP and the selfie they put out clearly showed a lot of bonhomie. This invitation to India for the G7, it's not the G7 itself, It's an outreach meeting to which twelve countries and all are invited other than the G7 is also significant because India has been invited, I think 11 times to the G7 now. It's a, it's a member of the Global South. It's an important country for all of these G7 countries to engage with. And Prime Minister Modi himself, I think is taking his fifth visit to the G7. It's a, it's, it's, it's certainly an acceptance and an understanding of India's position in the economic sphere as well as in dealing with the current conflicts of the world. They are going to play quite a role in the conversations that we expect to see tomorrow in that one big block session, which will look at the Mediterranean, it'll look at food scarcities, it'll look at energy security, which basically is about the Russia, Ukraine conflict. So you will see the fact that India's voice is required and important in all of these issues really playing out. As far as the India, Italy bilateral goes, they have been working on a number of agreements, including in fact, on the issue of migration, on a migration and mobility agreement. They have been trying to improve their bilateral trade. Italy is one of India's biggest partners in Europe already. So in in, in terms of bilaterals and, and Italy was upgraded to India's strategic partner last year as well. In terms of the bilateral, you'll certainly see some strong statements coming out. Prime Minister Modi is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with Georgia Maloney. He's also meeting with the other members of the G7 through the day and then he flies out of Italy tomorrow night. If you like this video then like, share and subscribe to ET Now.