India, Italy open new chapter of defence ties; announce strategic partnership

PM Modi said India and Italy have been working shoulder-to-shoulder on issues such as terrorism and separatism

Two years after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government lifted a seven-year-long ban on Italy’s Leonardo SpA and allowed it to take part in bidding for defence contracts in India, New Delhi and Rome on Thursday agreed to negotiate a defence deal and explore co-development and co-production of military hardware.

Modi hosted Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in New Delhi and the two leaders agreed to elevate India’s bilateral relations with the Southwestern European nation to a “strategic partnership”. They witnessed the signing of a “Declaration of Intent on Migration and Mobility”. This would be turned into a bilateral agreement later to counter irregular migration and trafficking of human beings, to examine pathways to facilitate labour mobility and to promote fair working conditions, with the aim of addressing the needs of the respective economies, according to a joint statement issued after the meeting between the two leaders.

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“The ongoing talks between the two countries on the Migration and Mobility Partnership Agreement are of special importance. The early conclusion of this agreement will further strengthen our people-to-people relations,” Modi said after his meeting with Meloni.

Modi and Meloni decided that the armed forces of the two nations would regularly hold joint exercises and training courses.

“There is another area where the two countries are starting a new chapter, and that is defence cooperation. Opportunities are being created for co-production and co-development in the defence manufacturing sector in India, which can be beneficial for both countries.

The Government of India had blacklisted M/s Finmeccanica, Italy and its subsidiary M/s AgustaWestland, the UK, in 2014 after they had been accused of paying bribes to secure a $ 48 million contract from the Government of India for supplying 12 helicopters for ferrying the President, the Vice President, the Prime Minister and the other VVIPs.

The scam had been probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

The Ministry of Defence, however, in 2021 notified a new list of the companies barred from doing business with it – dropping Italy’s AgustaWestland International Limited and its parent company Leonardo SpA, which was earlier known as Finmeccanica.

Finmeccanica rebranded itself as Leonardo SpA on January 1, 2017.

The AgustaWestland ceased to exist after it merged with the Leonardo SpA and turned into the helicopter division of the company.

Modi and Meloni on Thursday welcomed the steady deepening of defence cooperation between the two countries in the last two years, underscoring the need to further enhance mutual engagement in this field through the conclusion of an MoU on Defence Cooperation. They agreed on the potential for defence equipment co-development and co-production in India. New Delhi extended an invitation to the defence companies of Italy to actively participate in the “Make-in-India” programme.

Meloni noted that Italy-India bilateral trade had doubled to reach Euro 15 billion in two years. “But we are both convinced that more can be done”, she said joining Modi while making a media statement after the meeting at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.

Italy joined India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI) under the Science, Technology and Academics cooperation pillar. The two leaders announced the launch of the India-Italy Start-Up Bridge.