Global @ China | Italian former speaker Irene Piveti: looking forward to Italy China "the Belt and Road" cooperation and moving forward design | green | speaker
Former Speaker of the Italian House of Representatives, Irene Piveti
On July 14th, former Speaker of the Italian House of Representatives and Honorary Chairman of the World Green Design Organization, Irene Piveti, attended an event at the Chongyang Institute of Finance at Renmin University of China. In an exclusive interview with www. overseas. com, she praised China's achievements in promoting green development, and looked forward to Italy's cooperation with China in the "the Belt and Road" initiative.
"The Italian people were family in the Middle Ages"
"When I first came to China after the COVID-19, I was very happy and moved, just like going home! When I saw my friends, I warmly embraced them in an Italian way." At the beginning of the interview, Piveti said with emotion.
As the President of the Italian Friendship Association with China, Piveti is not only a witness to the friendship between China and Italy, but also a witness to China's development, with footprints covering the land of China. I can't remember how many times I've been to China. After 55 visits, I won't count anymore. Compared to the last time, China has undergone significant changes in development, with cleaner and more beautiful cities. I love Beijing the most, where I can feel the engine of the world running. I also appreciate the delicious food in Chengdu and the local way of life. I also like Tianjin, which has European characteristics and gives me a feeling of being at home.
On site visits and firsthand observations have provided vivid materials for Piweti to understand today's China, and have also given her a more vivid and intuitive feeling of friendship towards the Chinese people. In her opinion, Chinese people are very friendly, share values and trust each other with Italians, and have an optimistic and positive attitude towards life. She also cited the example of Italian traveler Marco Polo to express her expectations for friendship between Italy and China. When Marco Polo arrived in China, hundreds or even thousands of Italians also came to China, and Chinese people would follow the same path to Europe. As early as the Middle Ages, the Italian and Chinese people truly became family members for mutual communication.
"The Belt and Road Strengthening Eurasian Connectivity"
This year marks the tenth anniversary of the the Belt and Road Initiative and the fourth anniversary of Italy's accession to the the Belt and Road Initiative. Piveti said that Italy is proud to be the first G7 country to sign the memorandum of understanding on jointly building the "the Belt and Road" and hopes that this cooperation will continue.
In four years, China Italy "the Belt and Road" cooperation has turned from a blueprint to a reality, and has achieved fruitful results: bilateral trade volume has repeatedly hit new highs, growing by nearly 42% against the trend from 2019 to 2022, reaching nearly 78 billion dollars in 2022; The first large-scale cruise ship jointly built by the two countries was recently launched in Shanghai, and there will be 5 more in the future, with a total price of nearly 5 billion US dollars; Italy has been invited multiple times as a priority to participate in important international exhibitions in China. It was once the guest country of the CIIE and this year has become the only guest country of the Consumer Expo; The cultural exchanges between the two countries are also showing a more lively situation
Piveti said that he expected China to hold the third "the Belt and Road" International Cooperation Summit Forum this year. She said that the "the Belt and Road" initiative has positive significance and great influence. It not only promotes infrastructure construction, but also promotes people to people and cultural exchanges, and has made important contributions to strengthening connectivity between Europe and Asia. "I am very optimistic about the prospects of Italy China economic and trade cooperation, and Italian companies have confidence in the Chinese market. I sincerely hope that Italy and China will continue to live in peace and continue to closely maintain the cooperation of the the Belt and Road initiative, which is beneficial to both countries.".
"China has achieved remarkable results in practicing green development"
As the Honorary Chairman of the World Green Design Organization, Piweti has long been committed to the implementation of global sustainable development strategies, actively promoting the implementation and landing of ecological and environmental protection projects, and building a dialogue platform for Italy and China in various industries of green design, establishing effective communication mechanisms. In her view, China has achieved remarkable results in green development by balancing economic development and ecological environment protection.
"One of China's most stunning achievements over the past two decades has been its environmental protection policy aimed at promoting national development. This policy has achieved impressive results and is very important for both China and the world." Piweti said that China chose the path of green development at least 20 years ago and has achieved many accomplishments so far. She believes that while pursuing economic development, China also pays attention to ecological environment protection. Although this may slow down the pace of economic growth, it is a sustainable development approach that benefits future generations. "So, in my opinion, China is about to usher in a very beautiful future."
Piveti also stated that the current green cooperation between China and Europe needs to break out of complex political contexts. At the same time, both sides need to think deeply about how China Europe cooperation can be more pragmatic and implemented in actionable actions beyond theory. The cooperation between the European Union and China in the field of green economy requires a priority list, even a specific list of key projects, to determine specific regulatory actions in order to make final decisions that are in line with legitimate interests as much as possible. We hope that Europe and China can work together to address challenges and promote green development.
