(Bloomberg) -- French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte staged a show of friendship with a summit designed to turn the page on a postwar low in bilateral relations, even as coronavirus concerns overshadowed the meeting’s agenda.

Conte hosted Macron in Naples, with the two sides seeking to boost cooperation in fields ranging from reviewing European Union governance to the naval and technology sectors, according to Italian and French officials.

The leaders are keen to ensure warmer ties after Macron recalled the French ambassador to Rome for a week in February 2019. Macron’s move was prompted by Luigi Di Maio, then-deputy premier in Conte’s first coalition, visiting France to meet Yellow Vests protesters. Di Maio at the time accused Macron of acting like offended royalty. The two sides have since been reconciled, and Di Maio is now foreign minister.

Projecting a business and tourism-as-usual image despite the spread of coronavirus in their countries, with Italy the worst-affected European nation and France issuing warnings on returnees from northern Italy, the leaders began their day in Naples with visits to a theater and a chapel in the historic heart of the city.

Talks between the leaders and ministers including finance and foreign chiefs will focus on the two countries’ push to review European Union competition rules, and how the bloc’s economic rules can facilitate green investments, said the officials, who asked not to be identified because the preparations were private.

Conte and Macron are due to commit to common projects including a joint shipping venture between Naval Group and Fincantieri SpA, and an accord between Italian state lender Cassa Depositi e Prestiti and France’s Banque Publique d’Investissement to create a fund for technology and innovation, the officials said.

Libya Crisis

Also on the agenda is the Libyan crisis and the EU’s plan to deploy aerial, satellite and maritime assets in the Mediterranean Sea tasked with preventing the shipment of arms to the country’s warring factions. Both France and Italy are increasingly marginalized in a region where they were once dominant players, with Russia and Turkey now the heavyweights.

The spread of the coronavirus especially in the northern Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto, which has caused a virtual lockdown in vast areas, prompted France to ask Italian authorities if they wished to go ahead with the summit, a French official said. The Italians said yes, and both sides see the event as a message of solidarity in dealing with the disease.

The French foreign ministry has recommended that people postpone trips to northern Italy, and that upon their return they work remotely for two weeks and wear surgical masks. The French education ministry has asked schools to recommend that children coming back from Lombardy and Veneto should stay home for 14 days.

For Macron, the Naples visit has personal significance as well. The San Ferdinando Theater he visited was the home of the late playwright Eduardo De Filippo, and it was a play of his that Macron reshaped in high school with his drama teacher Brigitte Auziere, who later became his wife.

To contact the reporters on this story: John Follain in Naples at jfollain2@bloomberg.net;Ania Nussbaum in Paris at anianussbaum@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ben Sills at bsills@bloomberg.net, ;Rosalind Mathieson at rmathieson3@bloomberg.net, Richard Bravo, Caroline Alexander

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