India, Italy sign 15 MoUs to strengthen bilateral relations

New Delhi/Rome, Nov 6 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Italian counterpart Giuseppe Conte, signed 15 Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) in various sectors with an objective to strengthen bilateral relations.
In a virtual summit between India and Italy, the two Prime Ministers held wide-ranging discussions on bilateral, regional and global issues. They acknowledged significant progress in bilateral relations over the past two years since Prime Minister Conte’s visit to India in 2018.
The two Prime Ministers underlined the need to intensify cooperation in high technology, clean energy and energy sector development, infrastructure, food processing. The two leaders acknowledged the untapped potential of bilateral industrial partnership and projects and encouraged respective “national champions” and SMEs to explore new avenues of cooperation.
They agreed to promote innovative financial schemes capable of supporting bilateral investments. The two sides signed 15 MoUs in several sectors- between the Italian Trade Agency and Invest India; to promote co-financing between Cassa Depositi e Prestiti SpA (CDP), Italy and National Investment and Infrastructure Fund (NIIF), India.
MoU among the Indian Institute of Technology (Kanpur), Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle Arti e Paesaggio di Venezia on creating network and sharing skills for restoration and protection of monuments.
Other MoUs include Addendum to the Executive Protocol for Scientific and Technological Cooperation between Italy and India on industrial projects; Exchange of Notes on the Rules of Procedure for approval of co-production status under art. 15 of the Audio-Visual co-production agreement between the Government of the Republic of Italy and the Government of Republic of India; between Fincantieri S.p.A., Italy and Cochin Shipyard Limited, India on design, shipbuilding and manufacturing.