![ITS Carabiniere during her earlier visit to Fremantle. Credit: Bahnfrend (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons](http://yaffa-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/adm/images/dmImage/StandardImage/Carabiniere_F593_Fremantle_2017_03_web_825D42A0-F087-11E6-B6CC4AF2C3D73C2A.jpg)
Patrick Durrant | Sydney
The occasion of the visit by the Italian FREMM frigate and Project Sea 5000 Future Frigate contender ITS Carabiniere to Sydney has coincided with the first visit by an Italian Defence Minister to Australia.
Senator Roberta Pinotti met with Minister for Defence Senator Marise Payne in Sydney yesterday to discuss Australia-Italy defence cooperation before speaking at a reception hosted by the Italian Ambassador to Australia Pier Francesco Zazo in honour of ITS Carabiniere's visit to Sydney.
At the reception Pinotti drew comparisons between Sydney and her hometown of Genoa and reflected on the industrial and technological capability of Italy, exemplified by the FREMM frigate program.
Fincantieri Chairman Giampero Massolo also spoke and said that while Fincantieri was usually content to let its rich shipbuilding heritage stand on its own merits, “sometimes it built things of substance that needed to be shouted about” and the Italian FREMM was one such example.
Defence Minister Senator Marise Payne (L) meets with European and US Defence ministers at a counter-Daesh meeting in Paris last year. Italian Defence Minister Senator Roberta Pinotti is second from left. Credit: Defence
During their meeting the Ministers discussed regional security in the Asia Pacific, Europe and the Middle East as well as the counter-Daesh campaign following on from last week’s counter-Daesh coalition meeting in Brussels, in which both Ministers participated.
“Australia and Italy share common views on a number of global security issues, evidenced by our respective contributions to the NATO Resolute Support Mission to Afghanistan and our contributions to the international coalition to counter-Daesh,” Minister Payne said.
“Defence cooperation between Australia and Italy on issues of mutual concern enables us to respond more effectively to common global and regional security challenges,” Minister Payne said.
Minister Pinotti is in Australia to meet with senior Government Ministers and Defence officials to discuss Italy-Australia defence relations and no doubt the Sea 5000 program.
ITS Carabiniere will depart for Melbourne today before continuing a tour of the Asia Pacific.