Welcoming the growing bilateral trade and investment linkages, India and Italy on Friday agreed to expand them in new areas of common interest.

During talks between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, the two sides also noted the potential for a closer industrial collaboration, including in the field of defence, according to information released by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).

"A warm and productive meeting with FM @luigidimaio of Italy.

Noted our expanding cooperation in cyber security, S&T and space sectors.

Agreed that increasing interest of Italian companies in @makeinindia & transfer of technology will further advance our bilateral relationship," Jaishankar tweeted.

The Italian Foreign Minister is on his first visit to India.

During the meeting, they reviewed the full spectrum of bilateral relations including the progress in implementation of the 2020-2024 Action Plan adopted at the Virtual Summit in November, 2020, the MEA said.

"The two leaders noted the potential for a closer industrial collaboration, including in the field of defence. They reiterated their commitment to closely work in countering common challenges related to terrorism, violent extremism and cyber crime," the MEA said.

According to the MEA, they also discussed the implementation of the India-Italy Strategic Partnership on Energy Transition announced last year during Prime Minister's visit to Italy and agreed to explore partnerships in areas such as gas transportation, green hydrogen, bio fuels and energy storage.

In addition, they agreed to jointly organize an India - Italy Tech Summit on Energy Transition and Circular Economy, to be held in Delhi on November 16 2022, the MEA added.

Foreign Minister Di Maio also had a meeting with Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and co-chaired a business round-table which saw participation of top business leaders particularly in the energy, defence, sustainable mobility, and infrastructure sectors.

On Thursday, he visited Bengaluru where he met Karnataka Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai and inaugurated the premises of the new Consulate General of the Italian Republic.

Foreign Minister Di Maio also visited the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) along with their Italian counterparts, the Italian Space Agency and Elettra Sinctrotrone Trieste, with which scientific partnerships and joint projects are being developed, the MEA said.

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.

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