ENOA, Italy, December 22 (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko - Parliamentary diplomacy is the best tool in confirming that Italy remains Russia's key interlocutor within the European Union, and parliamentary diplomacy is the best way to confirm it, Vito Petrocelli, the president of the Italian Senate's Foreign Affairs Commission, told Sputnik in an interview
GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd December, 2020) ENOA, Italy, December 22 (Sputnik), Anastasia Levchenko - Parliamentary diplomacy is the best tool in confirming that Italy remains Russia's key interlocutor within the European Union, and parliamentary diplomacy is the best way to confirm it, Vito Petrocelli, the president of the Italian Senate's Foreign Affairs Commission, told Sputnik in an interview.
"Parliamentary diplomacy can do a lot to confirm Italy as Russia's best interlocutor among EU countries. I would like to work not only to keep this minimum objective in the Italian-Russian relations, but above all to relaunch the project of a single Eurasian space that goes from Lisbon to Vladivostok. I believe that 2020 can be considered positive," Petrocelli said, summing up the results of cooperation throughout the year.
The Italian senator noted with satisfaction the progress on the implementation of the interparliamentary cooperation agreement that the upper houses of Russia and Italy signed in Moscow in 2019 and said that a "very constructive" video conference took place earlier this year between the senates' foreign affairs committees, addressing, among other things, issues pertaining to defense.
The bicameral parliaments of Italy and Russia cooperate both at the level of lower and upper houses via a facility known as the High Russian-Italian Interparliamentary Commission, established in 1999. The platform was instrumental in facilitating the bilateral cooperation in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
"The Italian management during the first months of the pandemic emergency has become a model and in times of difficulty we have had the support of many friendly countries, such as Russia, which have intervened alongside us. We will not forget it and I would like to underline it as the main success of Italian foreign policy," Petrocelli said.
In mid-March, when Italy emerged as Europe's worst outbreak with a severe shortage of personal protective equipment and skilled personnel to fight COVID-19, Russia was the first country to extend a helping hand and send dozens of planeloads of equipment, medical supplies and personnel to help the Italian authorities fight the disease. In addition to providing 24/7 stationary medical assistance in field hospitals in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, the country's most affected area, Russian medics conducted regular outings to residential establishments for vulnerable population groups, such as people with limited abilities and the elderly.
