Italy primed for BRI integration, country's finance minister says

Italy stands ready to embrace the Belt and Road Initiative as the next key growth driver for the country's economy, Italian Finance Minister Giovanni Tria said on Wednesday.

Tria added that China's further reform and opening-up will unleash vast opportunities for cooperation, and emphasized the two countries' shared vision to uphold globalization and underpin their ever-closer relations.

"Italy must be actively involved in the process" of integrating the initiative, Tria said, "not only to realize all the advantages of participating in major infrastructure projects but also, in the longer term, maintaining a strategic position in the trade routes."