The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Luca Beccari, and the Minister of Finance, Marco Gatti, accompanied by the Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Silvia Marchetti, and the Consul, Maurizio Bragagni, returned to San Marino yesterday evening after a fruitful trip to London, which allowed them to meet with representatives of the British Government, Authorities, high representatives of the economic sector and United Kingdom MPs.

On Tuesday 8 February, the Ministers had an in-depth discussion with Tariq Mahmood Ahmad (Baron Ahmad of Wimbledon), Minister for South Asia, the United Nations and the Commonwealth, with whom they recalled the steps of the bilateral relationship, including the most recent ones, and confirmed the willingness to strengthen cooperation, also at a multilateral level.

Both sides emphasised the opportunity to strengthen the existing agreements, especially in the economic and financial areas, by proposing the opening of negotiations on an Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (IPPA) and an agreement for the elimination of double taxation (DTA).

In particular, in the following meeting, which took place on Wednesday, with the Secretary of State for International Trade, Rt. Hon Anne Marie Trevelyan, the collaboration necessary to start the negotiations on the IPPA was discussed in depth, investigating the opportunities for strengthening a useful and fruitful bilateral exchange. In this regard, both parties have agreed to hold a further virtual exploration meeting, in order to start negotiating for the establishment of the agreement.

Of particular interest was the meeting with the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Vincent Keaveny, with whom an in-depth discussion was opened, especially regarding the strengthening of financial collaboration, also exploring the opportunities for exchanging best practices in the field of cryptocurrencies and financial technology.

In this context, the possibility of an agreement between the Supervisory Authorities of the respective countries in the field of anti-money laundering was positively assessed.

A further occasion of meeting and discussion extended to the Authorities of the British political and institutional world was the reception for the St Agatha national holiday, the first of this kind held in London to celebrate the co-founder of the Republic.

 The meeting was attended by members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, as well as representatives of the Interparliamentary Friendship Group of San Marino and the United Kingdom and some San Marino citizens living in the United Kingdom.

 This reception, among other things, was the occasion to recall the terms of the parliamentary collaboration, which was recently launched thanks to the initiatives carried out last October in the Republic.

San Marino, 10 February 2022