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🇦🇷 Argentina /Economy & Trade

Argentina and Italy: Building a strong economic alliance on shared roots

From La Nación · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Press release Official statement New plan
  • Italy’s foreign minister is visiting Argentina with a major delegation that includes the education minister, Confindustria’s president and about 100 Italian companies.
  • The visit aims to strengthen the bilateral partnership under the action plan signed by Giorgia Meloni and Javier Milei, including cooperation in trade, space, artificial intelligence and critical minerals.
  • Bilateral trade reached 2.45 billion euros in 2025, but Italy says the relationship has much greater potential, particularly following the EU-Mercosur agreement.

Italy’s foreign minister has returned to Argentina two years after his last mission, presenting the visit as a push to turn shared historical ties into a stronger economic partnership. More than one million Italian citizens live in Argentina, alongside more than 20 million people of Italian descent, a connection the minister described as an exceptional bond of friendship.

Every time I arrive in Buenos Aires, it is impossible not to feel immediately at home.

· Italy’s foreign ministerThe minister described the personal and historical closeness between Italy and Argentina.

The minister said he would meet President Javier Milei, Chief of Cabinet Santilli and Foreign Minister Quirno. He is leading a broad delegation that includes Education and Merit Minister Giuseppe Valditara, Confindustria President Emanuele Orsini and representatives of around 100 Italian companies.

The visit follows the action plan signed last year by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Milei. Italy says it wants to strengthen cooperation across sectors, with companies already active in Argentina in automotive manufacturing, plant engineering, construction and manufacturing. The minister also identified space, artificial intelligence and critical minerals as areas for expanded cooperation.

I bring a political message of operational and concrete commitment to strengthening the partnership between Italy and Argentina in all sectors.

· Italy’s foreign ministerHe outlined the purpose of his visit and the bilateral action plan.

Italy considers Latin America a priority for its foreign policy and Argentina its preferred partner in the region. The minister linked that strategy to the recently reached EU-Mercosur agreement, which he described as a historic milestone and the largest free-trade agreement negotiated by the European Commission. He said it links 31 countries and around 730 million consumers, representing a quarter of global gross domestic product.

Latin America is a priority region for Italian foreign policy, and Argentina is its privileged interlocutor, the political reference point for strengthening our presence in the region.

· Italy’s foreign ministerHe explained Argentina’s place in Italy’s regional strategy.

Italian-Argentine trade reached 2.45 billion euros in 2025, up from 2024. The minister said that figure remains below the relationship’s potential and that Italy has included Argentina and Latin America among the priorities of its plan to internationalize Italian companies. More than 300 Italian-capital companies are already operating in Argentina, and the delegation’s stated aim is to help businesses on both sides take advantage of the opportunities created by the new trade agreement.

A true diplomatic revolution.

· Italy’s foreign ministerHe used the phrase to characterize the EU-Mercosur trade agreement.
About this summary

Originally published by La Nación in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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