Chinese President Xi Jinping met with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Beijing on Monday.
Noting that China and Italy are at the two ends of the ancient Silk Road, Xi said the time-honored friendly exchanges between the two countries have made significant contributions to the overall exchanges and mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations, and to the progress of humanity.
The Silk Road spirit of peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit is a shared treasure of China and Italy, Xi said.
He said that amid accelerating global changes unseen in a century, countries will either progress together through connectivity and unity, or retreat separately through closure and division.
China and Italy should uphold and promote the Silk Road spirit, view and develop bilateral relations from a historical dimension, strategic height and long-term perspective, and promote the steady and sustained development of China-Italy relations, he said.
Xi stressed that the sound and steady development of bilateral relations is in the common interests of the two countries and peoples.
Despite the complex and profound changes of the current international landscape, China's willingness to value and develop China-Italy relations remains unchanged, the win-win nature of China-Italy cooperation remains unchanged, and the friendship between the two peoples remains unchanged, Xi said.
He called for bilateral efforts to renew the tradition of friendly exchanges and continue to understand and respect each other's choice of development path.
As China and Italy enjoy complementary industrial strengths, which serve as opportunities for each other, Xi urged the two sides to stay committed to mutual opening up and cooperation.
Xi vowed China's continuous efforts to advance high-level opening up to inject strong impetus into China's modernization drive and bring new opportunities to expanding cooperation with Italy and other countries.
Xi voiced China's willingness to work with Italy to improve traditional cooperation in such areas as economic and trade investment, industrial manufacturing, sci-tech innovation and third-party market, and explore cooperation in emerging areas such as electric vehicles and artificial intelligence, among others.
China welcomes Italian companies to invest in China and stands ready to import more quality products from Italy, Xi said, calling on Italy to provide a fair, transparent, safe and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies as well.
Xi called on the two sides to cherish the achievements of mutual learning between Chinese and Italian civilizations, advance mutual reinforcement of cultural preservation and innovation, and promote closer ties between the two peoples.
Xi said that China supports Italy in hosting the 2026 Olympic Winter Games and hopes Italy will provide visa facilitation for Chinese citizens to visit Italy.
Xi highlighted that only opening up and cooperation of the global industrial and supply chains can bring about win-win development in the era of economic globalization.
He emphasized that China is committed to the path of peace and development, never seeks hegemony, and is ready to share development opportunities with other countries.
He expressed the hope that Italy will understand and support China's development philosophy and play a constructive role in promoting dialog and cooperation between China and the European Union (EU) and the positive and steady development of China-EU relations.
For her part, Meloni said this year marks the 20th anniversary of the Italy-China comprehensive strategic partnership and the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death, adding that Italy and China, both as ancient civilizations, have always appreciated and learned from each other.
Noting that the current international situation is undergoing profound changes, Meloni said that China, as an important major country, plays an irreplaceable role in addressing global challenges.
Italy attaches great importance to China's international standing and its role, and is pleased to carry forward the time-honored Silk Road spirit, develop closer and higher-level partnership with China, and open up a new chapter in the comprehensive strategic partnership between Italy and China, thus making new contributions to world peace and progress, the prime minister said.
Stressing her country's adherence to the one-China policy, Meloni said Italy hopes to strengthen dialog and cooperation with China to tap more potential, deepen bilateral cooperation in the fields of economic and trade investment, electric vehicles and artificial intelligence, enhance people-to-people and cultural exchanges, and facilitate more Italian products to enter the Chinese market.
Italy opposes "decoupling and breaking of industrial and supply chains" and protectionism, she said, adding that her country is pleased to play a positive role in pushing for solid progress of EU-China relations.
The two sides issued an action plan on strengthening their comprehensive strategic partnership (2024-2027).
At the invitation of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Meloni is on an official visit to China from July 27 to 31.
Xi meets Italian prime minister
Xi meets Italian prime minister
Xi meets Italian prime minister
