Italy Aims to Boost Collaboration with Canada

(MENAFN) Italy is pushing to expand its footprint in the Arctic, with Rome signaling a readiness to collaborate with Ottawa on a range of northern initiatives, Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced Monday following high-level talks with his Canadian counterpart.

Tajani met with Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand in Rome, where the two diplomats addressed a broad spectrum of shared concerns — spanning bilateral ties, climate change, energy, scientific research, security, and Arctic policy — before jointly addressing reporters at a press conference.

On the question of Arctic engagement, Tajani made Italy's ambitions clear: "Italy wants to play a larger role in that part of the world. Canada is already active, and we can work together."

Tajani extended a formal invitation to Canada to attend an Arctic summit Italy is set to host in March, expressing optimism that the two nations could launch concrete joint initiatives in the region.

Anand, for her part, underscored Canada's deep structural ties to the Arctic, noting that 70% of the country's coastline and 40% of its total territory are directly connected to the region. She confirmed that Ottawa and Rome are aligned on Arctic security, defense cooperation within NATO, support for Ukraine, and developments in the Middle East and Gaza.

Canada, she said, is actively working to scale up defense spending, deepen coordination with NATO and the North American Aerospace Defense Command, and build out new northern infrastructure capable of countering threats from sea, air, and land.

"This remains one of our priorities," she said.

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