“China’s economic growth is contributing to regional and global peace and stability,” said Michele Geraci, former Undersecretary of State at Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development, at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2024. 

Michele Geraci at the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2024 on March 27, 2024. 

Michele Geraci, former Undersecretary of State at Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development, and director of the New Multipolar World Institute, has called Italy’s withdrawal from the Belt and Road Initiative a “very big mistake.” Geraci, while attending the Boao Forum for Asia Annual Conference 2024 in Boao, Hainan, told China Today he has conveyed to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni that it is a very bad decision since the Belt and Road is mostly about how to do business in the rest of the world, not just trade between two countries. 

“It shows that the current Italian government does not fully understand the opportunity of the Belt and Road, does not fully understand how to do business with China, and underestimates the potential for positive development in the Belt and Road, not just between Italy and China, but also in Asia and Africa,” he said. 

Lauding China’s high-quality development, he called it a transition from development and economic growth based on the financial investment into a model more relying on human capital and innovation. He believes that quality development can spur innovation and technological development. Also, China’s economic growth is contributing to regional and global peace and stability, he stressed.  

“When you have economic growth, you forget about geopolitical problems. People around the world are all the same. They want to wake up in the morning, have something to eat, send the children to school safely, and go back home and be with the family happily. If development leads to this, then it will also lead to peace and stability,” he said.