Italy's premier was due late on Thursday to hold talks in Brussels with France's president Emmanuel Macron, the prime minister's office said in a statement.
Conte and Macron's talks on the best way to help nations most affected by the COVID-19 crisis come ahead of a key European Union leaders summit on Friday and Saturday. Italy hopes the summit will agree a proposed 750 billion euro fund to help the bloc's economies recover from the ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.
At their first face-to-face summit since the pandemic, EU leaders will also try to carve up a more than 1-trillion-euro budget for the next seven years.