The Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Luigi Di Maio, is on a visit to Prague today. The visit confirms the solidity of the bilateral relations between Italy and the Czech Republic and the common will to tighten them further.
With his Czech counterpart Lipavsky, Di Maio is due to sign an updated version of the collaboration agreement between the two Foreign Ministers, extending it further to intensify their coordination with respect to Eastern Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Sahel, and the Horn of Africa on the issue of energy security.
The agenda of the meeting between the two ministers includes an exchange of evaluations on the major international crises with a special focus on the war in Ukraine and on the need for a coordinated effort at EU level, both in meeting the humanitarian crisis caused by the conflict and in reducing Europe’s energy dependency on Russian fossil fuels. Special attention shall be placed on EU-related issues, also in view of the Czech Republic’s six-month presidency of the European Union (July-December 2022), that Italy hopes might coincide with relaunching the EU enlargement process to include the Western Balkans.
Minister Di Maio’s visit shall also serve to further consolidate economic and commercial relations between the two Countries, which already account for a significant trade volume, which amounted to 14.7 billion euros in 2021, and the presence in the Czech Republic of a consolidated and dynamic Italian business community with over 3,000 companies. The green and digital transition, infrastructures and the aerospace industry are only a few of the sectors targeted to bolster the economic synergies between Rome and Prague. In the field of culture, Italy intends to further increase the teaching of Italian language and culture in the Country, starting with the activities of the Italian Cultural Institute in Prague, which will celebrate the 100th anniversary of its foundation this year.
