Elon Musk to celebrate Giorgia Meloni as Italy eyes space sector investment

Rome: When Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni visits New York later this month to receive a global citizenship award, Elon Musk will be the one to hand her the prize.

The Tesla chief executive and X owner will present Meloni with the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen Award at a ceremony on Sep 23, according to sources familiar with the matter. Previous recipients include Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

Musk and Meloni have met on a number of occasions, including at a political festival last December thrown by the prime minister’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party. Appearing on stage, Musk discussed Italy’s demographic crisis – the country has one of the lowest birth rates in Europe – and exhorted the crowd to “make more Italians”.

“As simple as it sounds, if people do not have children there is no new generation,” Musk told the audience, echoing a prominent concern of Meloni’s. The billionaire also warned of the dangers of the “woke mind virus” – a favourite talking point – and unchecked migration.

The Atlantic Council event will not be the only meeting this month between Meloni and the world’s richest man. They are also scheduling a closed-door conversation to discuss investment opportunities in Italy’s space and artificial intelligence sectors, the sources said.

Italy approved a new regulatory framework in June that grants foreign space companies permission to operate in the country, according to a statement by the minister of industry. Italy expects to generate 7.3 billion euros (S$10.6 billion) of investment in the space sector by 2026.