President Meloni meets with Chairman and CEO of BlackRock

The President of the Council of Ministers, Giorgia Meloni, received the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of U.S. investment firm BlackRock, Larry Fink, at Palazzo Chigi today. The meeting took place after CEO Fink’s participation in the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) event held during the G7 Summit in Italy’s Apulia Region in June, which was co-chaired by President Meloni and President Joe Biden of the United States.

During their meeting, President Meloni and CEO Fink had an in-depth exchange of views on possible investments by BlackRock in Italy as part of the development of data centres and the related supporting energy infrastructure, as well as discussing investment opportunities in the area of national transport infrastructure and in other strategic sectors.

As an immediate operational follow-up, they agreed to set up an “ad hoc” working group, coordinated by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, dedicated to implementing the projects to be developed together.

President Meloni and CEO Fink also exchanged views on how developing a new and equal partnership with the African continent is a priority, together with the creation of new financing instruments for joint projects with African nations, and further multilateral financial instruments in the area of climate finance were also discussed.

Lastly, the meeting also addressed the issue of Ukraine’s reconstruction, ahead of the conference to be held in Italy in 2025.