Italy and India are two countries that are neither continental nor insular, but with the characteristic of being part of a continent with which they share a lot and have a common interest: that of freedom of navigation. The two states are connected to each other through the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, which is essential to keep open to navigation: the concept of the Indo-Mediterranean is therefore being developed. The reflection of Francesco Maria Talò, Ambassador, former permanent representative of Italy to NATO, appeared in the latest issue of the magazine Formiche
04/28/2024
One of the most interesting aspects from which to start in examining the relationship between Italy and India are the two visits made by the Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in 2023: these meetings marked a turning point in a bilateral relationship which in previous years, also due to some difficulties, was not adequate for the importance of the two countries involved. I was lucky enough to experience this turning point and the crucial passage that occurred at the beginning of March 2023, with Meloni’s participation in the Raisina Dialogue Forum.
The Prime Minister was invited to make the main opening speech at the important conference that India has made coincide with the G20 of foreign ministers. It is important to underline some aspects of that speech, since it was an opportunity to explain how geopolitics, in the end, dictates national interests and leads us to value certain international relationships in which these interests can, in fact, be common, and therefore lead to synergies. In this sense it is important to reflect on the relationship with India, since we are living in a period considered, by some, to be a crisis of globalization.
Globalization, as it has been experienced so far, has undergone a rethink: we had largely deluded ourselves into thinking that this would lead to a generalized increase in wealth between nations and within nations. We also thought that it would cause a generalized growth of democracy. But this did not occur: there was an actual increase in wealth, but more for some than for others; inequalities between nations and within nations have thus increased. And there were no effects on authoritarian political systems. Economics cannot prevail over politics if national values and interests are ignored.
On the other hand, interdependencies are an objective fact also in the economy as well as in security. In the future we will continue to work and trade on all continents, but we will have to do it in a careful and reasoned way, favoring interlocutors such as India with which there are greater commonalities of values and, above all, interests. In this sense, geopolitics, or rather the analysis of geography, helps, a doctrine which is moreover the sister of history. Meloni underlined, for example, a very particular concept: that of peninsularity.
Italy and India are two countries that are neither continental nor insular, but with the characteristic of being part of a continent with which they share a lot (Europe for Italy and Asia for India). At the same time, they are both largely surrounded by seas and therefore projected towards the world through a maritime dimension, which is fundamental when we consider that the vast majority of international trade circulates through the seas (according to the OECD around 90% of goods are transported on ships). Therefore Italy and India have a common interest: that of freedom of navigation.
What Italy is doing now is guaranteeing this freedom at chokepoints, those critical bottlenecks in the seas where the free movement of goods can be jeopardized by attacks by governments or non-state actors. This makes us think about the importance of the relationship with India, with which we share seas that are connected to each other: Italy is located at the center of the Mediterranean, while India is at the center of the Indo-Pacific area, protagonist of the development of the global economy.
The two states are connected to each other via the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, which is essential to keep open to navigation: the concept of the Indo-Mediterranean is therefore being developed, which in a certain sense could also be an evolution of our idea long underlined as a priority for the enlarged Mediterranean. Above all, a concept with a maritime dimension that represents a great opportunity for our country. The Mediterranean can truly perform, with Italy benefiting more than any other nation, the strategic function of a “middle sea”.
Mediterranean which, despite being small, connects the two largest water basins in the world (the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific). But for this to happen, freedom of navigation must be ensured: in short, geography offers us a historic opportunity, it is up to us to preserve it by guaranteeing safety, without which there is no well-being. At the same time there are other important opportunities for connection between the two countries. One sees Italy and India as protagonists in data connectivity, a great source of wealth in the digital economy.
In this regard, the Blue-Raman connectivity project is crucial, which sees an Italian company (Sparkle of the Tim group) at the forefront in the construction of a fiber optic cable that will connect India and Italy (and therefore the rest of Europe). The other project of great interest is the Imec (India-Middle East-Europe economic corridor) launched at the G20 summit in New Delhi on 10 September 2023, which sees Italy among its founding countries: it is a corridor which, starting from India, will arrive in the Gulf countries and cross the Arabian peninsula arriving in Israel, to then pass through the Mediterranean and use Italy as a bridge to the rest of the European Union.
Italy therefore has a crucial role as a European port, while India is positioned as another Imec terminal, having in the middle the countries of the Middle East, such as those of the Arabian Peninsula and Israel, which are currently experiencing a very serious crisis . The prospect of common growth can help resolve the crisis. Peres’ dream of a “start up region” could be outlined, with Italy and India as interested partners in a Middle East that looks to Europe and the Indo-Pacific for a development currently far from the images of destruction that comes to us.
Therefore, working with India means facing responsibly and intelligently a globalization that will no longer be that of previous decades. The clear priority must be our national interests, aiming to diversify economic dependencies with some priority partners, such as India, relevant in terms of size and also affinity.
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