Italy's PM Meloni to meet China's Li Qiang at G20 summit in India

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will have a meeting on Saturday with China's Premier Li Qiang on the sidelines of the G20 summit in New Delhi, a source familiar with the matter said on Friday.

Italy is seeking ways to resolve a difficult diplomatic call on whether to withdraw from China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a global trade and infrastructure plan modelled on the idea of the old Silk Road that linked imperial China and the West.

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said this week that a strategic partnership between Italy and China would be more valuable than the BRI.