NEW YORK: 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 Inc chief executive officer (CEO) and X owner will present Meloni with the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen Award at a ceremony on Sept 23, according to sources.

Previous recipients include Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen.

In a post on the Atlantic Council’s website in February, fellows Kaush Arha and Paolo Messa credited Meloni with being “instrumental in ensuring much-needed European aid to Ukraine.”

They added: “The Italian leader has emerged as a powerful interlocutor across Europe and the world stage (since taking office).”

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 won’t be the only meeting this month between Meloni and the world’s richest man.

They’re also scheduling a closed-door conversation to discuss investment opportunities in Italy’s space and artificial intelligence sectors, the people 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 Industry Minister.

Italy expects to generate €7.3bil of investment in the space sector by 2026.

Musk, who’s also CEO of Space Exploration Technologies Corp, already has a head start.

Italy is among the countries serviced by Starlink, which delivers broadband Internet through a global network of more than 6,000 SpaceX satellites.

 - Bloomberg