Rome [Italy], May 21 : External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Wednesday thanked Italian Deputy Foreign Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani for his warm welcome and discussions.
Jaishankar also presented the Italian edition of his book 'Why Bharat Matters' to Tajani.
In a post on X, he said, "Thank you DPM & FM Antonio Tajani for your warm welcome and excellent discussions during the Prime Minister's visit. Delighted to share the Italian edition of 'Why Bharat Matters'. Deeply appreciate your foreword to the volume."
https://x.com/DrSJaishankar/status/2057125798960566521?s=20
Meanwhile, in the Joint Declaration by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, both condemned terrorism and violent extremism in all their forms and manifestations, including cross-border terrorism. The two leaders strongly condemned the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack and reiterated their commitment to cooperate in the fight against terrorists and terrorist groups and their affiliates, including those listed in the UN Security Council 1267 sanctions regime.
They called upon all countries to continue to work towards eliminating terrorist safe havens and infrastructure, disrupting terrorist networks and combating the financing of terrorism, consistent with the Financial Action Task Force's guidelines. Both leaders reiterated their commitment to working together at the UN, FATF and other multilateral platforms.
Both leaders welcomed the first meeting of the Permanent Task Force between India and Italy on countering the financing of terrorism and the upcoming meeting of the Joint Working Group on Counter Terrorism, as stated in a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs.
Both leaders welcomed the conclusion of an MoU between the Italian Guardia di Finanza and the Directorate of Enforcement of India and looked forward to early conclusion of the Agreement on Exchange and Mutual Protection of Classified Information and the Agreement on strengthening of Police Cooperation. They also welcomed the ongoing discussions on other agreements including Extradition Treaty and Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty.
Both Prime Ministers expressed satisfaction with the deepening of defence cooperation, including through Ministerial exchanges, service-to-service ties, and port visits, and welcomed the adoption of a Joint Declaration of Intent and a Defence Industrial Roadmap which will promote partnerships for technological cooperation, co-production and co-development projects, including helicopters, naval platforms, marine armament and electronic warfare. They also recognized the importance of protecting critical infrastructures and their related supply chains through the strengthening of industrial resilience.
As per the MEA, the two sides agreed to examine the feasibility of establishing an annual high-level military structured dialogue, complementing the work of the Joint Defence Committee and the Military Cooperation Group, and to promote joint exercises and inter-force courses.
Both leaders agreed to launch a Dialogue on Maritime Security, with the aim of increasing maritime security cooperation, coordination, and the exchange of information and best practices in the maritime domain.
While appreciating the ongoing collaboration between the Italian Space Agency and the Indian Space Research Organisation, the two leaders agreed to strengthen the partnership on Earth observation, heliophysics and space exploration, with focused thematic engagement and to explore cooperation on access to space and protection of space infrastructures. They expressed satisfaction with the recent reciprocal visits of their respective space industry delegations and looked forward to further promote commercial collaboration through exchanges of experts and joint initiatives also in third countries.
The two Prime Ministers reaffirmed that innovation, science and technology are core drivers of the India-Italy partnership.
They announced the creation of INNOVIT India, an innovation hub located in India aimed at strengthening cooperation between the respective innovation ecosystems; supporting startup acceleration programmes, market access and business matching, joint research, university collaboration, and talent mobility in sectors including fintech, healthcare, semiconductors, logistics and supply chains, agritech, energy, quantum computing, and artificial intelligence, the statement read.
Both leaders welcomed the inaugural Science and Innovation Dialogue between Indian and Italian universities and research centres held in Delhi in April 2025 and look forward to holding its next edition in Italy later this year, as per the statement.
Both leaders underlined the importance of an open, free, secure, stable, accessible and peaceful ICT environment, which is an enabler for innovation and economic growth. PM Modi thanked PM Meloni for Italy's constructive participation in the AI Impact Summit that took place on 19th February 2026 in New Delhi. Both leaders reaffirmed their commitment to a human-centric, secure, trustworthy and robust Artificial Intelligence. They agreed to collaborate in this domain, including in third countries.
The two Prime Ministers placed particular emphasis on opportunities for cooperation in the field of supercomputing, as per the statement.
Building on the 2025-2027 Executive Program for Scientific Cooperation, they supported the implementation of joint projects and the facilitation of mobility of researchers in the areas of quantum technologies, renewable energy, green hydrogen and sustainable blue economy. They also welcomed the ongoing implementation of the Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in the field of scientific research and the launching of a joint call for proposals to fund research projects.
The two Prime Ministers acknowledged the longstanding scientific collaboration between Indian Academia and the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste and welcomed the signing of a Letter of Intent between the Indian Department of Science and Technology and the Elettra Sincrotrone Centre in Trieste, Italy, in support of activities related to the access of the synchrotron radiation facility at Elettra for Indian researchers.
PM Modi and Meloni reaffirmed their commitment to cooperate on the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), recognising its transformational potential in reshaping and promoting global trade, connectivity and prosperity. Appreciating the preliminary discussions around the project, they encouraged the first IMEC Ministerial meeting to take concrete steps for advancing this initiative in 2026.
They welcomed the signing of an MoU on maritime transport and ports and directed their respective ministries/departments to establish a joint working group to implement the MoU at the earliest, as per the statement.