China-Italy deals worth 8 billion euros

ROME – During a ceremony at Palazzo Barberini, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang signed 20 deals totalling eight billion euros, officials said Wednesday.

 Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini accompanied Renzi to an earlier meeting in Palazzo Chigi Tuesday. A group of Chinese citizens bearing Chinese and Italian flags greeted the Mr Keqiang in the Piazza Colonna.

 In a subsequent press conference the two politicians confirmed the worth of the deals signed, whilst Renzi noted that “at this time there is a lot of strong attention in our country from Chinese investors, and we are very happy about that.”

 He added that China is now Italy’s second largest non-EU trading partner, second only to the U.S. “In 2013 we traded 32.9 billion euros, and exports in the first half of 2014 rose by 8.3 per cent. But we can do more.”