Meloni speaks with 'friend' Elon Musk after congratulating Trump on election win

Rome: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Thursday spoke with American billionaire businessman Elon Musk - the founder of SpaceX and Tesla who also owns X - after Donald Trump's re-election as President of the United States.

Musk had aggressively campaigned for the Republican candidate in the US Presidential election and was hailed by Trump as a "special guy", "new star" and a "super genius".

"In the past few hours I have heard from my friend Elon Musk. I am convinced that his commitment and vision will be an important resource for the United States and Italy, in a spirit of collaboration aimed at addressing future challenges," Meloni posted on X Thursday afternoon, India time.

In September, during an awards ceremony held on the sidelines of the 79th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, the tech billionaire had called the Italian PM as "someone who is even more beautiful on the inside than she was on the outside."

"She's also someone who is authentic, honest, truthful. That can't always be said about politicians," said Musk while bestowing the Atlantic Council Global Citizen Award on Meloni.

The Italian leader responded by referring to Musk as a "precious genius".

"I thank Elon for the beautiful words that he had for me, and for his precious genius for the era in which we live," she said at the start of her speech at the event.

The comments fueled a rumour mill with Musk eventually denying any romantic relationship with the Italian Prime Minister.

Responding to a post on X, Musk clarified, "We are not dating".

He also clarified that he attended the event with his mother, Maye Musk.

"I was there with my Mom. There is no romantic relationship whatsoever with PM Meloni," Musk wrote on X.

In December, Musk travelled to Rome to attend Meloni's Brothers of Italy (FdI) party gathering 'Atreju' before Christmas.

"We invited Elon Musk because Elon Musk is a person who has things to say, who is relevant in the current context, also on the topic of artificial intelligence. You will know that Elon Musk, who is one of the people who developed artificial intelligence, has asked for a moratorium on the use of artificial intelligence precisely because he is a person who knows it better than us and who can help you on this," Meloni said while justifying the invitation to Musk.

At the convention, which was also attended by the then UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Musk had advised Italians to increase the low birth rate in the country.

"My advice to all government leaders and people is: make sure you have children to create a new generation," he had said.

Meanwhile, Meloni also had a first telephone call on Wednesday evening with the President-elect of the United States of America, Donald Trump, to congratulate him on his election victory.

The conversation, said Meloni's office, provided an opportunity to confirm the solid alliance, strategic partnership and deep and long-standing friendship that have always connected Rome and Washington.

"During the call, President Meloni and President-elect Donald J Trump expressed their willingness to work in close coordination on all the main international issues, starting with the war in Ukraine and the Middle East crisis, with the common goal of fostering stability and security, also in the context of relations with the European Union," a statement issued by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers mentioned.