The India-Italy partnership as champions for the Global South and the Indo-Mediterranean

Economic Times

5 days ago

Agencies India-Italy partnership
On the 1st of March 2006, addressing the US Congress, the then Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi warned that over the next 25 years, two billion more people would mostly be born in countries excluded from prosperity, creating a world split between six billion living in poverty and fewer than two billion in wealth. He said this imbalance would drive massive migration and risk fueling hatred and fundamentalism. The solution, he argued, was to lift poor nations out of misery by spreading democracy, good governance, human rights, and free-market economies, which he described as both a moral duty and a vital interest.In a world marked by volatility where conflicts have erupted across the Indo-Mediterranean, tensions in the Indo-Pacific escalate amid China's aggressive posture, and the persistent threat of Islamic extremism continues to challenge global stability, Berlusconi's speech now resonates with prophetic clarity. Nearly two decades after that historic address, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has at last crafted a strategic response aimed at addressing the very challenges Berlusconi warned of, warnings that until now successive Italian Prime Ministers and much of the global leadership had largely overlooked.
Prime Minister Meloni's Piano Mattei is Italy's strategic framework for cooperation with Africa, focusing on five pillars: energy, water, agriculture, health, and education. Launched in early 2024 and rooted in 'partnership among equals,' it aims to tackle migration drivers and foster investment through public–private tools. She has successfully aligned the plan with the EU's Global Gateway, co-hosting a Rome summit with President Ursula von der Leyen in June 2025 where 11 agreements were signed. The initiative has positioned Italy as a key EU player in shaping Africa policy and development engagement, and Italy has taken the leadership of the EU's much lagging Africa outreach.
Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership, India has doubled down on a Global South leadership agenda by shepherding the African Union's entry into the G20 at the New Delhi Leaders' Summit in September 2023, which elevated African representation in the forum's core deliberations. It has convened the Voice of Global South Summits (January 2023 and August 2024) to channel developing country priorities into global diplomacy. Looking ahead, New Delhi is set to host the Quad Leaders' Summit in 2025, positioning Indo Pacific security dialogues alongside development concerns of the Global South. India is also a central player in an expanded BRICS, with the 2025
leaders' meeting in Rio de Janeiro offering another platform where it engaged in dialogues on finance, development and South-South partnerships. Without directly mentioning it, both Italy and India seek to counter China's debt heavy Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its rising military influence in the global south, especially Africa, a young continent, rich in natural resources and full of future potential. While PM Meloni seeks to harness the might of the European Union, PM Modi uses India's centuries of goodwill, colonial era diaspora and soft power. Despite using different strategies both agree on the importance of Africa and the global south to the future of humanity. India and Italy are both firm champions of a more equal, value driven world, where trade wars, proxy wars, natural calamities and pandemics are especially taxing to the poor and the vulnerable.
Italy's vision of an enlarged Mediterranean extending to the Horn of Africa aligns naturally with India's MAHASAGAR initiative (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions), launched in March 2025 which starts at the Gulf of Aden. Building on its predecessor SAGAR (2015), which focused largely on the Indian Ocean Region, MAHASAGAR broadens India's engagement with the wider Global South, including East Africa, by emphasizing capacity building, sustainable blue-economy growth, trade, connectivity, and security cooperation. It has cemented India's status as the Indian Ocean's primary maritime security provider and a 'first responder' in crises. MAHASAGAR is designed to counter threats such as piracy, illegal fishing, and maritime terrorism while reinforcing India's commitment to a free and rules-based maritime order, reflecting its ambitions as a Global South leader in ocean diplomacy.Given the shared geography of the Indo-Mediterranean, Italy and India have much to gain by leveraging the synergies between their ambitious initiatives. The challenges they face are common, and both countries are signatories to the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC), a major trade route linking the Indo-Pacific with Europe and the United States through the Middle East. While IMEC, which brings together the US, EU, India, Italy, Germany, France, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and potentially Greece and Cyprus, will require time to develop its infrastructure, a dedicated Indo-Mediterranean corridor between Italy and India could serve as a vital interim step.The upcoming entry into force of the India - European Free Trade Association (EFTA) Trade and Economic Partnership Agreement (TEPA) on 1st October 2025 underscores this need. Switzerland, the largest EFTA economy and demographically the largest member, is landlocked and heavily dependent on Italian ports for access to India. Experts and entrepreneurs point out the advantage of establishing a dedicatedItaly-India-Switzerland maritime trade corridor which would boost TEPA's implementation while laying the groundwork for IMEC's eventual operation. Just as Trieste could serve as India's gateway to Europe's industrial heartlands and Central and Eastern Europe as Europe's IMEC terminal, other Italian ports could become India's entry points into Switzerland and Lombardy, Italy's economic powerhouse. Above all, Italy's southern ports and the infrastructure projects planned under the Mattei Plan complement India's Africa-focused Mahasagar strategy. The strong personal rapport between the two prime ministers and their alignment on strategic objectives further strengthen this partnership. With the leadership of Prime Ministers Meloni and Modi, two cultural superpowers could very well be lighthouses to ships in today's storms and bring them to the shore.
Senator Giulio Terzi di Sant'Agata is the President of the Italy-India Parliamentary friendship group, and Vas Shenoy is the Chief Representative for Italy of the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC).