India and Italy enjoy long standing relations which have witnessed a fresh momentum in recent years

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio will review the progress in implementation of the Action Plan 2020-24 when they meet in New Delhi on Friday.

Action Plan 2020-24 was launched at the Virtual Summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and then Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in November 2020 to set up priorities, strategic goals and mechanisms of a bilateral partnership for the period 2020-2025.

EAM S Jaishankar and Foreign Minister Di Maio will also exchange views on regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest, the Ministry of External Affairs MEA said on Wednesday, announcing the visit.

Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Di Maio, who is in India from May 4-6, will also meet with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and co-chair a business round-table, the MEA said.

Before reaching Delhi, Minister Di Maio is visiting Bengaluru where he will be meeting with the Chief Minister of Karnataka.

This is Italian Foreign Minister Di Maio's first visit to India. He is accompanied by a high level official and business delegation.

India and Italy enjoy long standing, friendly relations which have witnessed a fresh momentum in recent years with the successful Virtual Summit in November 2020 and Prime Minister Modi's visit to Italy in October 2021. During the visit, both countries had announced a Strategic Partnership on Energy Transition.

According to the MEA, the Italian Foreign Minister’s visit will provide an opportunity to discuss the entire gamut of the bilateral relations and further expand and deliver on our close partnership, especially in priority areas like trade and investment linkages, defence and security, clean and green energy, and science & technology cooperation.