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MILAN, Italy, July 10-- Italy and China held a round of high-level financial talks here on Wednesday, pledging to deepen their cooperation in the finance sector, and restating support for multilateral trade. Italian Minister of Economy and Finance Giovanni Tria and Chinese Finance Minister Liu Kun co-chaired the "First Italy-China Finance Dialogue", months after the signing in Rome of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Belt and Road Initiative. The event was preceded by a financial forum involving key public and private stakeholders from both countries, with different panels of experts addressing topics ranging from world macro economics to global finance, from banking and insurance to investment. "Both sides reaffirm their commitment to deepen and broaden bilateral economic and financial relations," the two ministers said in a joint declaration after the dialogue. Both countries also welcome financial institutions from the other side "to enter their securities, insurance, wealth management including custody services, and futures markets, in line with the regulatory framework currently or prospectively in force," they added. In his opening address, Tria said trade between Italy and China has been following a constant upward trend in recent years. "Italian sales to China grew from about 9 billion euros (10.1 billion U.S. dollars) in 2010 to 13.2 billion euros in 2018, while our imports from China settled at about 30 billion euros," he said. | 
