Italian Defence Firms Eyeing Joint Production with India, Says Envoy

New Delhi: Italian defence companies are ready to explore cooperation with Indian firms for joint manufacturing of equipment and transfer of technology, Italian envoy to India Vincenzo de Luca said, close on the heels of the November 6 bilateral Summit.

“The success of the 6 November Italy-India Virtual Summit is underpinned by the conclusion of 15 agreements. Some of those are in the defence industry sector. In particular, our national champion in shipbuilding, Fincantieri, inked two MoUs with Cochin Shipyard Ltd on design, shipbuilding, manufacturing and repair/refit,” the ambassador told ET in an interaction, days after the landmark Summit.

Defence ties with Italy — which took the twin hits of the AgustaWestland scam and the Italian marines case — were revived after an eightyear gap in 2018. Prior to the banning of Italy’s Finmeccanica (now Leonardo), which owned UK-based AgustaWestland, in 2013 in the aftermath of the VVIP chopper scandal, Italy had significant interests in the Indian defence sector, ranging from maritime systems to radars, avionics and land systems.

With the revival of defence ties in 2018, the two sides are looking for joint military cooperation, including the sale or joint development of arms and equipment. Defence relations were normalised after the visit of Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni in 2017 and his talks with Indian PM Narendra Modi.

The envoy said Rome wanted to foster a stronger cooperation between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean as part of its Indo-Pacific vision. A sustainable economic recovery after the Covid crisis will be achieved only through the activation of solid and reliable global supply chains and enhanced connectivity, he said. In this framework, the Indo-Pacific region will play a fundamental role, since a great deal of the world’s trade and energy resource exchanges are operated through its sea lanes, he pointed out.

“The Mediterranean Sea and the Indian Ocean overlap, connecting seamlessly Europe, Africa and Asia. For this reason, many actors are interested in ensuring that the connection among these regions is built on a rules-based international order, rule of law, sustainable and transparent infrastructure investment and freedom of navigation.”

Italy became a development partner of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations with the purpose of contributing to any initiative aimed at facilitating the cooperation between Europe and the Indo-Pacific for the sake of stability, security and prosperity of all the countries concerned, the envoy said. “Moreover, thanks also to the Indian support, Italy has recently joined the Indian Ocean Rim Association as a dialogue partner. Again, our purpose is investing in the blue economy sector and foster a stronger cooperation between the Mediterranean

Source: ET