Italian authorities on Thursday welcomed the trade agreement reached between the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (UK). "Good news...Interests and rights of European businesses and people will be guaranteed. The UK will be a central partner and ally for the EU and Italy," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Twitter. The announcement of the deal struck between the British government and the EU authorities, which will govern their trade and security relationship starting from Jan. 1, 2021, made headlines on all Italian media. The agreement was reached after nine months of tough negotiations, and will finally seal the Brexit. The UK has in fact left the EU in January of 2020 following a 2016 referendum, but it remains under its trading rules until the end of 2020.
Britain is a relevant commercial partner for Italy. The latest annual data available on bilateral trade relations showed Britain was the fifth largest export market for Italy in 2018, and the tenth in terms of imports. In 2019, the value of Italian exports to the British market reached 24.9 billion euros (30.34 billion U.S. dollars), according to the data by the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Italian Trade Agency (ICE). "From today on Brexit is the past, Europe is the future," Italy's Minister of European Affairs Vincenzo Amendola said on Twitter. He congratulated European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier, and all European negotiators on the result. The EU-UK agreement "is a good compromise, which first and foremost protects the interests of European citizens and companies," Amendola added.