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After marines row, Rome looks to reset bumpy ties with Delhi
NEW DELHI: With the marine issue firmly behind them, India and Italy are now looking to reset ties by planning to host joint commission meetings between the two
NEW DELHI: With the marine issue firmly behind them, India and Italy are now looking to reset ties by planning to host joint commission meetings between the two countries.
The two countries had seen a dip in relations over the marines —Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone — who are accused of killing two fishermen off the Kerala coast in 2012. With the marines back in Italy, the atmosphere is now “conducive to move forward on all fronts”.
That was the apparent ice-breaker sentiment shared by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj and her counterpart Paolo Gentiloni when they met in Rome last Sunday, when Mother Teresa was canonised in Vatican.
Both sides have now agreed to resume exchanges in culture, economy, science and technology, and counterterrorism as they eagerly look to make up for lost time, officials privy to the meeting said.
Besides legal wrangle and a diplomatic stand-off, the marine issue was a fodder for domestic politics in both countries. For India, it was played up in the run-up to the general elections and in Italy a foreign minister had to resign in the wake of charges that he was not doing enough to secure their release.
After the marines were arrested, a protracted diplomatic and legal war had ensued, affecting the bilateral ties in many ways, which also spilled over into the country’s relationship with the European Union.
Italy had also come in the way of India becoming a member of the export control grouping, Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR). But India became an MTCR member this year, after the marine issue ceased to be a bone of contention following a UN tribunal order.
“Both sides were satisfied about the way the marines’ issue was handled with maturity,” an official told HT.
Girone went back to Italy in May this year after serving four years in custody in New Delhi and Latorre was sent back earlier on health grounds. Swaraj was the first external affairs minister to visit Italy since February 2011 when former external affairs minister SM Krishna paid a visit to the country to attend a ceremony to mark the 50th year of Italian reunification.
