Italy's Meloni seeks to relaunch cooperation with China

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, marking her first official visit to the country since taking office. During the five-day visit, Meloni signed a three-year plan to strengthen economic cooperation between Italy and China. This move comes after Italy's decision to exit China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) last year, citing that the massive investment scheme had not yielded the expected results. Despite this, Meloni described China as an "important interlocutor" in managing global tensions. Italy and China also signed an industrial cooperation memorandum, with Rome seeking to improve trade ties with Beijing.