Prime Minister Narendra Modi had a bilateral meeting with Mario Draghi, President of the Italian Republic, on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders’ Summit hosted by Italy in Rome on 30 and 31 October.
The two leaders acknowledged significant progress in bilateral relations since adopting Action Plan for an enhanced partnership between India and Italy (2020 –2024) on 6 November 2020.
They expressed their resolve to strengthen cooperation in the strategic sectors addressed by the Action Plan, including the cross-cutting issue of accelerating the clean energy transition to fight climate change, central to both the G20 Leaders Summit in Rome and the COP26 in Glasgow.
In addition, both sides have agreed on the importance of a cost-effective integration of renewable energy into their respective power systems for an effective clean transition that generates jobs, GDP growth, reinforces universal energy access while eradicating energy poverty.
In this perspective, the two Prime Ministers appreciated India’s resolve to deploy 450 GW of renewable energy by 2030 and Italy’s prompt ratification and active support to the International Solar Alliance and agreed to launch a bilateral strategic partnership in the domain of energy transition.
“Such a partnership could build on existing bilateral mechanisms, including by giving new impetus to the cooperation on renewable energy and sustainable development between the Italian Ministry of Ecological Transition and its Indian counterparts,” the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.