MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 24th October, 2018) Russian President Vladimir Putin and Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will discuss the crises in Syria and Libya, as well as bilateral cooperation, during their meeting in Moscow on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Conte arrived in Moscow to pay his first official visit to Russia. In addition to meeting with Putin, he is scheduled to hold talks with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and to meet with Italian businesspeople working in Russia. Conte's trip to Russia was preceded by visits of Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini and Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi.
Putin and Conte plan to discuss the state and prospects for the development of Russian-Italian cooperation in various spheres, exchange views on urgent international and regional issues, including the situation in Syria and Libya.
On November 12-13, the Italian city of Palermo will host the international conference on the situation in Libya. According to Milanesi, it will be mainly focused on securing elections in the crisis-torn country. On October 8, Milanesi said that Putin had been invited to the conference. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Russia would certainly attend the conference, but would later determine the level of its representation.
Conte has previously repeatedly said that Italy would promote the revision of anti-Russia sanctions, adding that Moscow had played a major role in resolving geopolitical crises in recent years. The new Italian government, which was formed in late May by a coalition comprising the anti-establishment Five Star Movement and the eurosceptic Lega party, stated the need to lift the EU sanctions imposed on Russia in their government coalition agreement.
Just before his visit to Russia, Conte expressed support for the idea for the G7 (Group of Seven) to readmit Russia, which would allow the group to deal more effectively with a number of urgent international issues.
