ROME: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni took selfies at the Colosseum and admired the view over Rome ahead of talks focused on trade on Wednesday.

In a video posted on X, Meloni also thanked Modi for bringing along a packet of “Melody” toffees on his visit, with the two seen laughing over the present – a play on their names.

Wrapping up a tour of Europe, Modi landed in Rome on Tuesday for the first bilateral visit by an Indian prime minister to Italy in 26 years.

Modi previously visited Italy for a G20 meeting in 2021 and a G7 summit in 2024.

In a joint editorial in Italy’s Corriere della Sera daily, the two said they wanted to “reach and exceed the 20 billion euro ($23 billion) target for trade between Italy and India by 2029”.

Particular sectors of interest would include defence, aerospace, car parts, clean technologies and textiles, they said.

“We aim to forge a powerful synergy between Italian design, manufacturing excellence, and world-class supercomputers… and India’s rapid economic growth, engineering talent, scale, and innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem,” they said.

Bilateral trade between Italy and India was 14.25 billion euros last year, according to the Indian embassy to Italy.

The two leaders later on Wednesday will hold bilateral talks at Villa Pamphili, a 17th-century villa to the west of the city centre.

Modi on X said he would also visit the Rome headquarters of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) “strengthening India’s commitment to multilateralism as well as global food security”.

• Beijing and Moscow continuously deepened mutual trust: Xi.
• Putin says relations reached “unprecedentedly high level”.
• Xi warns of “unilateral countercurrents running rampant”.

President Xi Jinping hailed China and Russia’s “unyielding” ties in talks with Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, as the pair met to underscore their alliance days after Donald Trump’s visit to the Asian superpower economy.

After the US president was received with pomp last week but left without major breakthroughs, including on help with reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Putin’s visit will be scrutinised for tangible takeaways.

Putin is, however, weakened by years of Russia’s war on Ukraine, as sanctions by Western powers put the squeeze on energy revenues and increased Moscow’s dependence on China, the main buyer of Russian oil.

The US war on Iran has however hampered crude and gas flows, giving an opportunity to Putin to offer Russian energy sources as an alternative.

Analysts believe that Putin could use the visit to push for progress on the major “Power of Siberia 2” natural gas pipeline from Russia to China through Mongolia — a land alternative to crude imported by sea from the Middle East.

Opening talks in Beijing’s opulent Great Hall of the People, Putin and Xi were quick to laud their countries’ special ties as they extended their treaty of “friendly cooperation”.

Beijing and Moscow have “continuously deepened our political mutual trust and strategic coordination with a resilience that remains unyielding”, Xi told the Russian leader, according to Chinese state media.

Putin, meanwhile, told Xi relations had reached and “unprecedentedly high level” despite “unfavourable external factors”, without naming any third country, video from Russian media showed.

Xi warned of “unilateral and hegemonic countercurrents running rampant”, in a veiled swipe at the United States.

‘Old friend’

Xi has played host to a series of world leaders as an increasingly unpredictable United States under Trump pushed many to shore up alliances with Beijing, and the war in Iran has further accelerated the trend.

Russia-China ties have deepened since Moscow launched its invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Putin visiting Beijing every year since as his country is shunned by Western powers.

Putin’s visit promises to be less opulent than Trump’s, emphasising that “the Xi-Putin relationship does not require that kind of performative reassurance”, said Patricia Kim from the Brookings Institution in Washington.

Xi welcomed Putin with open arms as an “old friend” when he last visited Beijing in September 2025 — language the Chinese leader did not extend to Trump last week.

Both Putin and Xi view ties as “structurally stronger and more stable” than those between China and the United States, she told AFP.

Beijing has regularly called for talks to end the war in Ukraine but has never condemned Russia for sending in troops, presenting itself instead as a neutral party.

But with Russia reliant on sales to China to sustain its war effort, “Putin does not want to lose that support”, Asia Societys Lyle Morris told AFP.

Middle East priorities

When it comes to the US-Israeli war on Iran, though, China and Russia may have different priorities.

Russia has sought to capitalise on the energy crisis and rocketing oil prices spurred by the closure of the Hormuz strait.

Russia’s top diplomat Sergei Lavrov had said after meeting Xi in April that Russia could “compensate” for China’s energy shortages as the Middle East war hits global supplies.

China, however, wants the Middle East conflict concluded as soon as possible.

Xi underlined in talks with Putin that further hostilities in the Middle East is “inadvisable” as he said a “comprehensive ceasefire is of utmost urgency”.

“(China) relies on the freedom of the world´s major waterways to sustain its economic activities, and would prefer that the standoff in the Strait of Hormuz end sooner rather than later,” James Char of Singapore´s Nanyang Technological University told AFP.

• Two Chinese tankers exit Hormuz carrying 4m barrels.
• US leader says Tehran begging for a deal.
• Vice President Vance says lots of progress made in talks.

SINGAPORE/WASHINGTON: Two Chinese tankers laden with oil exited the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, shipping data showed, brightening hopes that the US-Israeli conflict with Iran may soon be resolved after positive comments from the US president and his deputy.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday the war would be over “very quickly” while Vice President JD Vance talked up progress in talks with Tehran about an agreement to end hostilities.

“We’re in a pretty good spot here,” Vance told a White House press briefing.

Trump made his comments a day after saying he had paused a planned resumption of hostilities following a new proposal by Tehran to end the conflict.

“I was an hour away from making the decision to go today,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.

Iran’s leaders are begging for a deal, he said, adding that a new US attack would happen in the coming days if no agreement was reached.

The United States has been struggling to end the war it began with Israel nearly three months ago. Trump has repeatedly said during the conflict that a deal with Tehran was close, and similarly threatened heavy strikes on Iran if it did not reach an accord.

The US president is under intense political pressure at home to reach an accord that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz – a key route for global supplies of oil and other commodities. Gasoline prices remain high and Trump’s approval rating has plummeted with congressional elections looming in November.

The conflict has caused the worst-ever disruption to global energy supplies, blocking hundreds of tankers from leaving the Gulf while damaging energy and shipping facilities across the region.

Two Chinese ships, among a handful of supertankers carrying Iraqi crude, exiting the Gulf this month, passed through the narrow strait carrying around 4 million barrels of crude, according to data from LSEG and Kpler.

Oil prices eased on the positive signals from the White House and in the Gulf, with Brent crude LCOc1 falling to as low as $110.16 a barrel, before regaining much of its losses.

“Investors are keen to gauge whether Washington and Tehran can actually find common ground and reach a peace agreement, with the US stance shifting daily,” said Toshitaka Tazawa, an analyst at Fujitomi Securities.

Difficulties in negotiations

Speaking to reporters at a White House briefing, Vance acknowledged difficulties in negotiating with a fractured Iranian leadership. “It’s not sometimes totally clear what the negotiating position of the team is,” he said, so the US is trying to make its own red lines clear.

He also said one objective of Trump’s policy is to prevent a nuclear arms race from spreading in the region.

Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament’s national security committee, said on X that Trump’s pausing of an attack was due to the realisation that any move against Iran would mean “facing a decisive military response.”

Iranian state media said Tehran’s latest peace proposal involves ending hostilities on all fronts, including Lebanon, the exit of US forces from areas close to Iran, and reparations for destruction caused by the US-Israeli attacks.

Tehran also sought the lifting of sanctions, release of frozen funds and an end to the US marine blockade, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as cited by IRNA news agency.

The terms as described in the Iranian reports appeared little changed from Iran’s previous offer, which Trump rejected last week as “garbage.”

Ceasefire mostly holding

The US-Israeli bombing killed thousands of people in Iran before it was suspended in a ceasefire in early April. Israel has killed thousands more and driven hundreds of thousands from their homes in Lebanon, which it invaded in pursuit of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.

Iranian strikes on Israel and neighbouring Gulf states have killed dozens of people.

The ceasefire has mostly held, although drones have lately been launched from Iraq towards ⁠Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and ⁠Kuwait.

Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they launched the war to curb Iran’s support for regional militias, dismantle its nuclear programme, destroy its missile capabilities and create conditions for Iranians to topple their rulers.

But the war has yet to deprive Iran of its stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium or its ability to threaten neighbours with missiles, drones and proxy militias.

The Islamic Republic’s leadership has withstood the superpower onslaught with no sign of organised opposition.