The Italian Minister of Economy Pier Carlo Padoan has been on a mission to China last July, from 22 to 25. The three days of the Minister started in the Chinese capital and then proceeded to Hong Kong. With the Minister, also a delegation of Deposits and Loans Fund (Cassa Depositi e Prestiti), led by the president Franco Bassanini and the chief executive officer, Giovanni Giorno Tempini. The Minister Padoan met the most important exponents of the Chinese financial world, beginning with his Chinese counterpart, the Finance Minister Lou Jiwei Beijing, to the governor of the Chinese central bank, Zhou Xiaochuan. The minister also met the presidents of the four major Chinese banks (Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China, Bank of China and China Construction Bank), the two major Chinese investment banks (China Development Bank and Export Import Bank of China) and the head of the big Chinese sovereign China Investment Corporation (CIC).

At the bilateral level, the visit of the Minister proposes itself to strengthen the economic relations between Italy and China, which are becoming more continuous and solid. On the table, even the possibility of the entrance with a minority share (35%) in the CDP Reti by the Chinese State Grid Corporation of China, the largest electricity distribution company in China. The Minister Padoan quantified in "about two billion euro" the value of the agreement, which should be finalized in Rome by the end of the month. The Minister Padoan wanted to emphasize, in the numerous public interventions during the visit, the commitment of Italy to put itself as a "bridge" in relations between China and the European Union, who are increasingly taking the form of the strategic partnership, emphasizing in particular the role of Italy in the process of internationalization of the renminbi. Just last month, the central bank of China has signed two agreements for the opening of two offshore clearing banks for the renminbi, in London and Frankfurt.