Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio's three-day visit to India from Wednesday will provide an opportunity for both sides to further expand bilateral ties in trade and investment, defence and security, and clean and green energy, the Ministry of External Affairs said.
It said the visiting dignitary is scheduled to hold talks with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Friday.
This will be Mr. Di Maio's first visit to India, and he will be accompanied by a high-level official and business delegation.
"The 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 and technology cooperation," the MEA said in a statement.
It said Mr. Jaishankar and Mr. Di Maio will review the progress in the implementation of the 'Action Plan 2020-24' launched at a virtual summit in November 2020 and also exchange views on regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest.
The Ukraine issue is likely to figure in the talks.
Mr. Di Maio will also meet with Union Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and co-chair a business round-table.
Before reaching Delhi, Mr. Di Maio will visit Bengaluru, where he will be meeting with the chief minister of Karnataka.
"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 the visit of Prime Minister of India to Italy in October 2021 where both countries announced a strategic partnership on energy transition," the MEA said.
