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Italy and China signed a three-year action plan on Sunday to implement past agreements and experiment with new forms of cooperation, Italy\u2019s Prime Minister\u00a0Giorgia Meloni<\/a>\u00a0said on an official visit to the Chinese capital.<\/p>\n Meloni is trying to reset relations with China as fears of a trade war with the European Union are interwoven with continued interest in attracting Chinese investment in auto manufacturing and other sectors.<\/p>\n \u201cWe certainly have a lot of work to do and I am convinced that this work can be useful in such a complex phase on a global level, and also important at a multilateral level,\u201d she said in remarks at the start of a meeting with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.<\/p>\n Her five-day visit comes several months after\u00a0Italy dropped out<\/a>\u00a0of China\u2019s Belt and Road Initiative, a signature policy of Chinese leader Xi Jinping to build power and transportation infrastructure around the world to stimulate global trade while also deepening China\u2019s ties with other nations.<\/p>\n Still, Italy remains keen to pursue an otherwise strong economic relationship with China. Stellantis, a major automaker that includes Italy\u2019s Fiat, announced in May that it had\u00a0formed a joint venture<\/a>\u00a0with Leapmotor, a Chinese electric car startup, to begin selling EVs in Europe.<\/p>\n Li, addressing Italian and Chinese business leaders after the meeting with Meloni, said that China\u2019s push to upgrade its economy will increase demand for high-quality products, expanding opportunities for cooperation between companies from their two countries.<\/p>\n He pledged to open Chinese markets further, ensure that foreign companies get the same treatment as Chinese ones and create a transparent and predictable business environment, responding to frequently heard complaints from businesses operating in the world\u2019s second-largest economy.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the same time, we hope the Italian side will work with China to provide a more fair, just and non-discriminatory business environment for Chinese companies doing business in Italy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Meloni told the business leaders that the two sides had signed an industrial collaboration memorandum that includes electric vehicles and renewable energy, which she described as \u201csectors where China has already been operating on the technological frontier for some time \u2026 and is sharing the new frontiers of knowledge with partners.\u201d<\/p>\n Electric vehicles have also become a symbol of growing China-EU trade tensions, with the European Union\u00a0imposing provisional tariffs<\/a>\u00a0of up to 37.6% on China-made electric vehicles in early July. The two sides are holding talks to try to resolve the issue by an early November deadline.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, China launched an anti-dumping\u00a0investigation into European pork exports<\/a>, just days after the EU announced it would impose the tariffs on Chinese EVs.<\/p>\n Meloni, who arrived in Beijing on Saturday, is making her first trip to China as prime minister. She has held talks with Li before,\u00a0meeting in New Delhi last September<\/a>\u00a0during the annual G-20 summit, which brings together the leaders of 20 major nations.<\/p>\n\n