India, Italy commit cooperation in fighting corruption

India on Monday secured Italy's commitment to work together in fighting corruption in public and private sectors thus setting the stage for more cooperation in probing the cases like the AgustaWestland chopper scam.

India and Italy inked six pacts as Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni, who is on a visit here.

The pacts included a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the ICE-Italian Trade Agency and Invest India to assist bilateral efforts aimed at enhancing mutual investments.

Another MoU was inked for cooperation between the two countries in the field of energy. A joint declaration of intent of cooperation for safety in the railway sector was also signed.

The two Prime Ministers sought to breathe fresh life into bilateral political and economic relations, which came under stress in the past few years since the arrest of two Italian Navy personnel for firing at a fishing vessel St Anthony from oil tanker MV Enrica Lexie and killing two fishermen from Kerala off the southern coast of India on February 15, 2002.

"India and Italy are two large economies, and the respective strengths of our economies provide us ample opportunities to strengthen our commercial cooperation. There is a lot of potential for our bilateral trade of about $8.8 billion to grow much further," Modi said after the meeting with Gentiloni.