The English-language newspaper The Hindu confirms Giorgia Meloni's visit to India, already announced by other Indian media in recent days.
The prime minister is expected in Delhi on March 2, the day on which, according to The Hindu, she will participate as guest of honor at the Raisina Dialogue, the annual meeting on geopolitical issues promoted by the Indian Foreign Ministry and the think tank Orf , Observer Research Foundation.
Citing an anonymous diplomatic source, The Hindu anticipates that a "bilateral defense cooperation pact between the two countries could be announced during the visit. An agreement that, at the latest, will be signed during Meloni's next visit, next September, in occasion of the G20 summit, of which India has the presidency".
Meloni, writes The Hindu again, will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, three months after their first side meeting of the G20 in Bali
.
The Hindu also refers to a meeting last week during the Aero India demonstration in Bengalore between Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh and Undersecretary Matteo Perego Di Cremnago.
Meloni will be the third Italian prime minister to visit India after Paolo Gentiloni in 2017 and Giuseppe Conte in 2018.
"Recent years have seen a continuous effort by both countries to put the ghosts of the Augusta Westland and Leonardo scandal behind them and to focus on the make-in-India strategy for which many Italian companies offer themselves as partners," he commented. Anil Wadhwa, former Indian ambassador to Italy.
