Resisting pressure from Washington and Brussels, Italy on Saturday March 23,2019 became the first G7 country to join China's controversial Belt and Road Initiative (BRI).
Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Rome, endorsing the global infrastructure-building scheme.
From left) Chinese President Xi Jinping, Foreign Minister Wang Yi,
Italian Labour and Industry Minister Luigi Di Maio and Prime Minister
Giuseppe Conte at the signing ceremony in Rome on Saturday.
Conte and Xi shook hands after 29 separate sections of the MoU were signed by members of both governments.
The MoU is non-binding. But by opening the
door to greater Sino-Italian cooperation, it threatens to deepen rifts
between Rome and its traditional allies and within Italy's fragmented
coalition government.
Luigi di Maio, Italy's minister for
economic development and one of the country's two deputy prime
ministers, told after the signing that Rome's goal was to
"rebalance an imbalance" in Sino-Italian trade.
Announced in 2013 as an ambitious plan to build a
"belt" of overland corridors and a "road" of maritime shipping lanes
spanning Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Europe, the BRI has evolved to encompass other regions, as well as digital infrastructure and even cultural exchanges.
Also known as "The New Silk Road", it
promises to strengthen China's trade and investment links with the rest
of the world and cement its position as a major global economic power.
BRI projects are financed by Chinese state-owned enterprises that offer participating countries inexpensive loans and credit
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