Geraci on CGTN: Belt and Road serves as ‘inspiration’ for Italy

Italy is a member of the Belton Road initiative after signing up two years ago during the pandemic. Health workers from Italy and China have shown how BRI Cooperation is more than just infrastructure connectivity.

CGTN Reporter talks to Michele Geraci former Under Secretary of the Italian Ministry of Economic Development at the annual Boao Forum.

We signed the deal two years ago then a couple of months later we changed government in Italy, so the new government was worried with setting themselves up again and then three months later we had the Covid. So in a way not much has happened in practical terms but it’s very difficult to to say if it is because there was a problem with the agreement, because again companies needed time to react and it does take time anyway we don’t expect immediate results. We know the experience of the british, french companies have been in China for decades even hundred years of certain banks so we cannot expect results in a few months and of course the one year and a half of Covid has completely put a break on any potential activity. It’s so i want to reassure people it’s not that people don’t want to take advantage of the Belton Road, It’s not that people don’t want to invest in China, is the company don’t want to invest anywhere and so we want to give them the signal to say you know. Now if you want to engage into joint develop infrastructure, we are there to make sure that things work according to the rules and so this lowers the level of risk the company perceive and so increases the propensity to cooperate and then we selected some potential target market again a suggestion and we say Central Asia, Africa. Because i also think Africa from both an ethical and economic point of view needs to be helped.

The Belton Road is not just a trade it’s also the Belton Road of health, it’s exchange of information about vaccine, about the prevention, about the cures. We had members of the chinese red cross coming to Italy, to Milan in march last year, to try to share their experience because China was two months ahead then Europe and you know people do want to participate in sharing things science. Knowledge needs to be shared and I think this is the time when the world needs to remember that it’s made up by people, not only by governments, not only by economists, so it’s the real you know individuals that then forge the basis of the relationship between peoples.