Islamabad:Acting President Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Italian Ambassador Marilina Armellin on Wednesday discussed ways to further strengthen support and cooperation between the two countries in key areas.
During a meeting at Aiwan-e-Sadr here, the acting president said that Pakistan and Italy enjoyed over 75 years of diplomatic relations rooted in a long-standing friendship and cooperation at important international fora.
He expressed appreciation for Italy’s support in multilateral platforms and thanked the Italian government for hosting more than 300,000 members of the Pakistani diaspora. Gilani noted the presence of several Italian companies in Pakistan, particularly in pharmaceuticals, oil and gas and railways, and underscored Pakistan’s interest in expanding trade and investment ties.
He also emphasised the need for faster visa processing for Pakistanis travelling to Italy and looked forward to an increased quota of skilled workers under the labour migration programme, for which an MoU between the two countries is under process.
The Italian ambassador said that Italy deeply cherished its long-standing friendship with Pakistan and noted that Pakistan was among the first countries with which the Italian Republic established diplomatic relations.
She said that in 2025, Italy issued visas to over 15,000 Pakistani students who got admission to Italian universities for postgraduate and PhD programmes. Referring to Italy’s shortage of skilled manpower, particularly in scientific, IT-related fields and healthcare, the envoy said Italian institutions welcomed initiatives by Pakistani universities to offer Italian language courses to improve employment prospects. The meeting reaffirmed the shared commitment to further deepen bilateral cooperation in education, migration, trade and people-to-people exchanges.
