Elon Musk, Chief Executive Officer of SpaceX and Tesla and owner of X, formerly known as Twitter, attends the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups at the Porte de Versailles exhibition centre in Paris, France, June 16, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes/File Photo Acquire Licensing Rights
ROME, Dec 12 (Reuters) – Billionaire Elon Musk has accepted an invitation from Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to attend a gathering of her right-wing political party this weekend in Rome.
Musk on Tuesday replied “yes” to a post on social media platform X, which he owns, saying he had “reportedly accepted” the invite, and linking to an Italian newspaper article.
The article, from Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper, said Musk would be a guest at “Atreju,” a four-day festival starting on Thursday that is organised by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party.
Atreju’s X account confirmed Musk’s attendance separately, saying he was the “mysterious” guest mentioned in a previous post, adding that he would come on Saturday.
Musk had previously travelled to Rome in June to meet Meloni.
He told public broadcaster RAI after that meeting that he had discussed with her possible remedies to Italy’s demographic crisis and risks posed by artificial intelligence (AI).
At this year’s edition, held in the ancient Roman Castel Sant’Angelo fortress near the Vatican, one of the other notable guests will be Spanish far-right opposition leader Santiago Abascal.
The Atreju festival, which has been running since 1998, is named after the central character in the fantasy book and film “The Neverending Story.”
Additional reporting by Shubhendu Deshmukh in Bengaluru; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Mark Porter
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