On June 10, 2008, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi met with visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in Rome.

Berlusconi expressed his satisfaction with the ties and cooperation between Italy and China in all fields, hoping that the two countries will continue their dialogues and their economic and trade relations will be further boosted. He expressed hope that more Italian products can be exported to China and welcomes more Chinese tourists to Italy. Italy is ready to play a role in improving and developing China-EU relations and China's ties with the West, he added.

The Olympic Games serve as a bridge of friendship among peoples around the world, and the forthcoming Beijing Olympics will promote the understanding among them, said Berlusconi. He also wished the games a complete success.

Since the two countries established a comprehensive strategic partnership in 2004, the bilateral ties have seen all-round progress in various fields, said Yang. Currently China-Italy relations enjoy a good momentum and extending and deepening such cooperation and exchanges enjoys a good foundation and a bright prospect, he said. Yang noted that China is willing to make joint efforts with Italy to promote the all-round development of friendly relationship and turn it into a model for bilateral ties by boosting political dialogues, pragmatic cooperation and cultural and personnel exchanges.

Yang expressed sincere gratitude for the Italian government's swift aid to China following the Wenchuan earthquake. Italy is also willing to offer more aid to China in its relief efforts, Berlusconi said.

Yang also met with his Italian counterpart Franco Frattini. During the meeting, the two diplomats agreed to keep high-level exchanges, promote cooperation in the intentional arena, deepen strategic consultation and expand economic and trade cooperation, cultural and social exchange as well as the cooperation in the consular and judicial fields.

On the afternoon of the same day, Yang and Frattini attended a closing ceremony of the third Joint Meeting of the China-Italy Governmental Committee and delivered speeches. Yang said the China-Italy Governmental Committee, since its establishment in 2004, has developed into an effective platform to push forward bilateral cooperation in all areas and is playing an increasingly important role in mapping out and coordinating inter-departmental cooperation, pushing bilateral cooperation for in-depth and extensive development. Yang pointed out that in the next phase the committee should earnestly advance pragmatic cooperation, expand cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises, and actively explore cooperation on urban construction, agriculture and tourism. He urged both sides to carry out exchanges and cooperation on climate change, environmental protection and energy. He also called for active cooperation between both sides on culture, education, media and sports, as well as between localities.

Frattini said Italy and China have established a solid comprehensive strategic partnership with deepening mutual understanding and expanding cooperation area. Both sides share identical or similar views on many political, economic and international issues. Italy hopes to deepen cooperation with China on economy, trade, science, technology, tourism, health and energy so as to continue consolidating and strengthening bilateral ties.