In the afternoon of September 28, Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao and Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Di Maio co-chaired the 14th meeting of the Sino-Italian Economic Cooperation Mixed Committee by video. The two sides exchanged views on implementing the consensus between the leaders ofthe two countries and promoting economic and trade cooperation between the two countries to go deeper and deeper in a friendly manner. Yu Jianhua, International Trade Negotiator and Vice Minister of the Ministry of Commerce, and Luca Ferrari, Italian Ambassador to China, attended the meeting.

Wang Wentao said that under the strategic leadership of the leaders of China and Italy, Sino-Italian economic and trade cooperation had shown strong resilience and good prospects, and bilateral economic and trade relations have been consolidated and enhanced. Since last year, Sino-Italian mutual investment cooperation in high-end manufacturing industries such as automobiles, machinery, aviation, and medical care has been steadily advancing. From January to August this year, bilateral trade volume increased significantly by 40.9% year-on-year, and China's imports from Italy grew by 58.4%. China is willing to continue to support Italian enterprises operating in China and hopes that the Italian side will facilitate the development of Chinese enterprises in Italy.

Wang stressed that when President Xi Jinping spoke with Prime Minister Draghi on September 7, he pointed out that both sides should take the lead in building the "Belt and Road" cooperation and promote deeper and more practical cooperation in various fields. In the next step, the Ministry of Commerce and the Italian side are willing to continue to implement the consensus between the two leaders and promote cooperation in the following key areas: first, deepen cooperation in building the "Belt and Road" and jointly develop the third-party market; second, strengthen cooperation in combating epidemics and promote the recovery of the world economy; third, tap the trade potential and make good use of important platforms such as the China Import and Export Fair, the Trade Fair for Services, and the Consumer Expo, and so on, to promote trade and investment cooperation between enterprises of the two countries in such fields as high-end machinery, aerospace, medicine, food and beverage, ice and snow, and tourism; fourth, to promote investment cooperation in green development and the digital economy.

The Italian side attaches greatimportance to developing economic and trade relations with China, and is satisfied with the good results and development trend of bilateral cooperation, said Di Maio. The Italian side welcomes Chinese enterprises to exhibit in Italy and hopes to expand exports of agricultural and food products to China and strengthen mutually beneficial cooperation in areas such as e-commerce. The Italian side is willing to take the 2022 Italian-Chinese Year of Culture and Tourism as an opportunity to increase the visibility of Italian tourism, food,and wine in China.

The two sides agreed to continue to strengthen cooperation in medicine and e-commerce under the JMC mechanism and to set up a working group on food; to actively promote the resumption of direct flights between the two countries as soon as possible to facilitate business travel between the two countries; to take the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics as an opportunity to promote cooperation in the ice and snow industry between the two countries; and to support the authorities of the two countries to maintain good cooperation in market access for agricultural and food products, intellectual property protection and the implementation of the China-EU geographical indications agreement.

The two sides also communicatedon China-EU economic and trade relations and the G20 trade ministers' meeting.

The 14th Session of the Italy-China Joint Economic Commission is undergoing.

(Photo/Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation)