Romania's prime minister, Marcel Ciolacu, will be in Rome on February 14-15, where he will participate in the third joint meeting of the governments of Romania and Italy, held 13 years after the previous intergovernmental summit. During the two-day working visit to Italy, he will also be received in audience by His Holiness Pope Francis.

Ciolacu will have several high-level meetings with Italian officials and will meet with representatives of the Romanian community in Italy, the Romanian government announced. Thus, he will have talks with the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, and with the mayor of Rome, Roberto Gualtieri.

"An important component of the visit is the economic one, a context in which several members of the delegation will participate in the Romanian-Italian Economic Forum," reads the Romanian government's press release.

Also, prime minister Marcel Ciolacu will be received in an audience by His Holiness Pope Francis at the Vatican and will have a meeting with the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin.

Deputy prime minister Marian Neacșu, interior minister Cătălin Predoiu, transport minister Sorin Grindeanu, defense minister Angel Tîlvăr, foreign affairs minister Luminița Odobescu, and economy minister Radu Oprea will accompany Marcel Ciolacu to Italy.

The Romanian-Italian bilateral relationship is based on the Strategic Partnership concluded on April 17, 1997, raised to the level of Consolidated Strategic Partnership on January 9, 2008. The first joint Romania-Italy government meeting (G2G) took place in 2008 in Rome, and the second in 2011 in Bucharest.

Economically, according to the government, Italy has been Romania's second trading partner for several years, with a share of approximately 9.5% in our country's total trade. Data for the first ten months of 2023 record a further increase in bilateral trade of around 3% compared to the same period in 2022, reaching a nominal value of EUR 16.9 billion.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Gov.ro)