Rome, Dec 7 – Italy has formally pulled out of China’s Belt and Road Initiative after weeks of deliberation, while expressing its willingness to maintain its strategic partnership with Beijing, Italian media reported on Wednesday.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni passed a verbal note to the Chinese authorities three days ago without an official announcement, thus ending the country’s four-year participation in the multibillion-dollar project, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported.
The withdrawal reportedly came after weeks of diplomatic consultations in which Rome tried to change the terms of the agreement, which was signed by former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in 2019, but all its proposals were rejected by Beijing.
As the only G7 country that joined the project, Italy obtained few economic benefits and many undesirable political effects, including the dissatisfaction of the United States, and its withdrawal could affect other countries’ willingness to remain in the project, the newspaper said. Nevertheless, Italy is still interested in maintaining friendly relations with China, hence the lack of any public statements from both sides, according to the report.
Meloni pledged to pull out of the initiative even before she was elected prime minister, describing the previous government’s decision as a “great mistake.”
The Belt and Road Initiative is a global infrastructure development project conceived by China in 2013. Inspired by the ancient Silk Road, it aims to connect China to Central Asia, Russia, and Europe by land, and to Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Africa to Latin America and the Caribbean by sea. It currently includes more than 150 nations, with a dozen more considering joining the initiative.
