Foreign minister Luigi Di Maio on Thursday defended the government's 4.6 billion euro budget allocation for foreign aid, saying Italy preferred to present itself to the world in a peaceful way.
"Italy does international affairs 'the Italian way'. We don't roll up in tanks but we present ourselves through overseas aid - which also costs less," Di Maio told the lower house of parliament's foreign affairs committee.
"We don't just to it for that reason, but overseas aid also a way to ensure we get access to some countries' economies - ask Italian business people," Di Mao added.
Many countries "worse off than Italy" had repaid the government and regions for their aid by helping it during the peak of its dramatic COVID-19 outbreak, Di Maio recalled.
