Italy, China will sign up to $23 billion of deals, official says

Rome: Chinese and Italian companies will sign 10 accords potentially worth as much as 20 billion euros ($23 billion) at a ceremony with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday, according to an Italian official who declined to be named before the event.

Xi and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will separately sign a memorandum of understanding giving Italy a role in the Chinese leader’s Belt and Road global infrastructure project, at the Renaissance-era Villa Madama in Rome.

Those involved in the business accords will include gas pipeline operator Snam SpA, engineering company Ansaldo Energia SpA and leading banks, people with knowledge of the matter have said.

The Chinese president has brought Italy’s populist government into his global Belt and Road infrastructure project. The US and some European partners are concerned that the initiative signals a Chinese push for economic domination.