Modi, Meloni and Melody: Dinner together then toffee as gift, special friendship between India and Italy seen in Rome

Rome. Italy’s Prime Minister (PM) Giorgia Meloni expressed gratitude on social media for the special gift received from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Meloni tweeted and wrote, thanks for the gift. He humorously told that PM Modi brought India’s famous Toffee melody for him. Meloni said that Prime Minister Modi brought a very, very nice toffee – Melody as a gift.

Important issues were discussed in dinner

PM Modi said that both the leaders discussed many important global and bilateral issues during the dinner. After this both the leaders also visited the historical and prestigious Colosseum of Rome. Earlier, when Modi reached Rome, Meloni welcomed him on social media and wrote that welcome to Rome, my friend.

India-Italy will strengthen partnership from Indo-Pacific to Mediterranean

Both the leaders have presented an ambitious roadmap to give a new direction to India-Italy relations. In a joint article published on several international media platforms, the two leaders described India-Italy relations as a special strategic partnership, an important foundation of the emerging “Indo-Mediterranean” era.

In the article titled Italy and India: A Strategic Partnership for the Indo-Mediterranean, the two leaders said that relations between India and Italy have now reached a decisive stage. He said that this relationship is not limited to just friendship, but has become a partnership based on freedom, democracy and a shared vision of the future.

The article describes India-Italy relations as part of a larger geopolitical shift, emerging as the Indo-Mediterranean Corridor connecting the Indo-Pacific and Mediterranean regions. It was described as a new network of trade, energy, technology, data and strategic connectivity.

Thank you for the gift pic.twitter.com/7ePxbJwPbA

— Giorgia Meloni (@GiorgiaMeloni) May 20, 2026

Both the leaders emphasized on enhancing political coordination, economic integration and technical cooperation amidst the rapidly changing global order. He said prosperity and security in the 21st century will depend on how strongly countries pursue innovation, energy transition and strategic sovereignty.

The article also mentioned plans to combine Italy’s industrial and manufacturing expertise with India’s huge economy, innovation ecosystem and engineering capacity. Both countries have set a target of increasing bilateral trade to more than 20 billion euros by 2029. For this, there will be special focus on sectors like defence, aerospace, clean energy, machinery, pharmaceuticals, textiles and tourism.