Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni will travel to India to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 30, in a visit described as a “breakthrough” that will effectively put to rest more than five years of tensions over the Italian Marines case, sources have confirmed to The Hindu.
The visit, the first by any Prime Minister on either side since 2007, was discussed during the meeting between Mr. Modi and Mr. Gentiloni on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg in July this year, officials familiar with the decision said.
Breaking the ice
“The visit of Prime Minister Gentiloni now is a breakthrough, which will consolidate the progress in ties we have witnessed since Ms. Swaraj’s visit,” former Ambassador to Italy Anil Wadhwa, who completed his tenure in June, told The Hindu.
Diplomatic ties between India and Italy virtually came to a standstill over the m.v. Enrica Lexie case, the ship on which two Italian marines were on guard duty in February 2012, when two Indian fishermen were shot and killed off the coast of Kerala. The marines, Latorre Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone, were suspected of shooting the fishermen, and taken into custody, although Italy claimed the ship was in international waters and hence only subject to the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
As the case moved to the Supreme Court, India refused to hand over the Italian marines, except giving them furlough to travel to Italy on a few occasions, which became a major campaign issue in Italy. Finally, in September 2014, the government let Mr. Latorre return home after the Supreme Court issued an order on health grounds, while Mr. Girone was allowed to go in May 2016. Both are now in Italy, pending the order from the arbitration court at The Hague, where the trial against them will be held.
“Ties between the two countries were virtually in a freeze over the Marines issue,” said former Ambassador to Italy Anil Wadhwa, who was tasked with restarting the dialogue process when he arrived in Rome in March 2016. After a few months of discussions, the visit of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj kick-started the talks when she visited the Vatican for the canonisation of Mother Teresa in September last year.
The decision to release the marines in 2016 bore fruit as India and Italy re-engaged, officials said. Italy reversed its decision to block India from the Missile Technology Control Regime , and the European Union and India also re-engaged.