China’s presence in Italy: challenges and opportunities

In March 2019 by signing the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the Italian government officially embraced the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative. This event sparked a fierce debate at the time, especially because Italy was the first – and so far the only –  G7 country officially joining the China-led project. Providing a data-driven and fact-grounded analysis thus became critical to a balanced assessment of Sino-Italian cooperation in the aftermath of the MoU. Against this backdrop, the Istituto Affari Internazionali (IAI) carried out a two-year long research project aimed to ascertain whether the risks pointed out in the debate around the MoU have materialised or, conversely, whether the MoU has brought the opportunities the Italian government wished for.Building on the findings of the research project “When Italy embraces the Belt and Road”, the two round tables will further delve into Italy-China relations in the current internal atmosphere and the lessons other European countries can learn from the Italian case.