India, Italy, Japan launch trilateral dialogue focused on Indo-Pacific

Building on growing Indo-Pacific convergence with Europe, India has launched a trilateral dialogue with Italy and Japan which will focus on forging an India-centric European Union (E.U.) Strategy for cooperation in the region. The India-Japan-Italy trilateral was launched at a virtual interaction organised by the Embassy of Italy in collaboration with the Japan Institute for International Affairs and the Observer Research Foundation. Setting the tone for the trilateral dialogue, Mrs Riva Ganguly Das, Secretary (East) in India’s Ministry of External Affairs, exhorted Italy to lend support to an India-centric European Union (E.U.) Strategy for cooperation in the region. “This will provide a springboard to India-Italy cooperation for the region’s peace and prosperity. Further, Italy’s manufacturing prowess complements India’s desire to become a trustworthy node in the global value supply chains,” said Mrs Das. “Europe’s embrace of the Indo-Pacific underlines the growing recognition of the region’s importance and unfolds new opportunities for cooperation with India,” Ms. Das said. Underlining that the geo-political pivot to Indo-Pacific is still an ongoing process,” Ms. Das underscored the need to evolve a common rules-based order that applies to all individually and also to the global commons which must also respect sovereignty and territorial integrity, as well as equality of all nations, irrespective of size or strength. “These rules and norms should be based on the consent of all, not on the power of the few. It also means that nations must uphold the international commitments they make,” she said. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had famously articulated India’s Indo-Pacific vision at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in 2018. India envisages the Indo-Pacific as free, open and inclusive with ASEAN centrality and unity at the heart of it. Italy’s Ambassador to India Vincenzo de Luca underlined the need for integrating bilateral collaboration to promote “an articulated multilateral approach in the region, starting from strengthening economic and trade relations. “In this context, Italy can play a leading role in the field of energy transition, connectivity, infrastructure and digitalisation.”