The 14th Bilateral Committee between Italy and Pakistan ended in Rome, during which the meeting between the Secretary General of Defense and National Director of Armaments, General of the Army Corps Luciano Portolano, and the Secretary of the Ministry of Defense for the production of Pakistan, Lieutenant General Humayun Aziz, took place.
From the previous Bilateral, held in Islamabad in November 2021, it was possible to see that over 50% of the activities carried out ended with a positive outcome. This is thanks to the continuous work and comparison between the working groups of the two countries in recent months and the synergy with the Italian industries in the sector, such as AIAD, Fincantieri, Leonardo, MBDA Italia, Elettronica, Rheinmetall Italia and Fabbrica d’Armi Beretta.
In particular, topics concerning the maintenance of efficiency of the equipment supplied to the Pakistani Defense supplied by the Italian industries in the land, aeronautical and naval sectors were addressed and further opportunities for future cooperation in the field of Defense materials were discussed. There was also talk of some potential industrial cooperation in the field of small arms, electronic warfare and shipbuilding.
In the context of the wide-ranging and geostrategic level of conversation, General Portolano “recognized the role that Pakistan plays in the complex regional context and in the delicate stabilization process of Afghanistan, highlighting, in particular, the position that the Asian country assumes in the international community as a regional actor, with a foreign policy open to cooperation with China, while maintaining important relations with the United States and the European Union”.
Since 2017, Pakistan has also been a member state of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a geostrategic alliance that has its origins in the concerns expressed by Central Asian countries regarding security and, in particular, the threats of international terrorism. During the meetings there were clear references of an economic-financial nature; the drama of floods and climate change are the background to an increase in inflation in the Pakistani country with inevitable consequences also on the industrial fabric and, in this case, that of the defense industry. However, the technical tables of recent days have represented an important stimulus to cooperation and dialogue between the Pakistani Defense and the Italian Aerospace, Defense and Security Industry.