(ANSA) - ROME, FEBRUARY 11 - Beijing hopes for a renewal of the agreement on the new Silk Road signed with Italy, a framework agreement which will automatically extend in March 2024, if in the meantime the Italian government does not decide to cancel it.
The new Chinese ambassador Jia Guide, who took office in Rome a few weeks ago, underlines this in an interview with ANSA, defining the two countries as "natural partners".
"Facts trump rhetoric", replies the ambassador when it is pointed out that Washington and Brussels, as well as some Italian parties, have never hidden their opposition to the agreement.
"In 2019 Italy and China signed the memorandum of understanding on the Belt and Road: in asking ourselves what role this played, we can only look at a series of data and facts. In the last three years, the bilateral trade between Italy and China has faced the obstacles due to the pandemic" but has nonetheless "set new records, reaching 77.88 billion dollars in 2022 and placing Rome at the forefront of Europe among the countries that have commercial relations with China. Italy, in recent years, has become the European country to have signed the largest number of agreements for the
"Italy - continues Jia - was the guest country of honor at the second edition of the China Import Expo and this year at the fourth edition of the China International Consumer Goods Fair; it has also started a series of new collaborations with China in sectors with a large potential growth, such as the Olympics and winter sports, therefore the prospects are bright. cooperation and friendship may become ever wider".
(HANDLE).