MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th July, 2019) Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Italy on Thursday to hold talks with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, President Sergio Mattarella and Pope Francis over a wide range of issues.
According to Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov, Putin's agenda during his visit will include such topics as Russia-EU cooperation, Iranian nuclear program, situation in Syria, Libya and Ukraine. In addition, Putin and Conte will attend a session of the Russian-Italian Civil Society Dialogue Forum.
Putin will also meet with former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi as part of his visit to Rome, Ushakov noted, adding that this would be a purely friendly meeting and the continuation of informal contacts.
Prior to the Russian president's visit, local media reported that Rome's historical center would turn into a high-security zone during Putin's stay, with 1,000 personnel expected to be deployed to ensure order.
PUTIN-CONTE-MATTARELLA: MAIN TOPICS
One of the crucial points on Putin's agenda will be economic cooperation between Russia and Italy, Ushakov told journalists. He also stressed that Moscow was concerned over the fact that Italian-Russian trade was still failing to reach the level it had before Europe had imposed sanctions on Russia.
"The past two years were marked by a positive dynamics. In 2018, trade increased by 13 percentage points reaching $27 billion. However, these figures do not suit us, and I am sure they do not suit our Italian partners either," Ushakov said.
Vito Comencini, a member of the Italian parliament and the secretary of the Commission for Foreign Affairs of the Chamber of Deputies, told Sputnik on Wednesday that Putin and Conte might also discuss the possibility of Russia's return to G8 and the issue of reopening the Italian embassy in Damascus.
In addition, Comencini noted that with regard to Libyan conflict, Rome was pinning hope on Putin's influence and was expecting the Russian leader to interfere in the issue and help resolve the crisis that Italy was extremely suffering from due to being the first stop on the way of migrants fleeing from Africa to Europe.
SIGNIFICANT MEETING FOR WHOLE CHRISTIAN WORLD
Besides Conte and Matarella, Putin is also expected to hold talks with Pope Francis. Their meeting will be the third one after the first encounter took place in 2013 and the second - in 2015. According to Ushakov, Putin and the head of the Roman Catholic Church will discuss international issues, in particular, Syria, Ukraine and the Holy See's humanitarian projects in Donbas.
In his recent interview with Sputnik, Russian Ambassador to the Holy See Aleksandr Avdeev said that the aim of Putin's visit was to exchange views over major international issues as well as to outline common approaches to situations that were likely to arise in the future or were arising nowadays. The diplomat also assumed that the talks may touch upon such topics as restructuring the global trade market, nuclear disarmament and recent G20 summit in Osaka.
According to Comencini, Putin's meeting with Pope will be of great significance for the whole Christian world.
"This meeting will be important for the Christians around the world. Putin demonstrated in Syria the defense of Christians from Islamist terrorists. Also, he is demonstrating commitment to protecting Christian values in his country," Comencini said.
Russia is important for protection of Christians around the globe and "stabilization of conflicts where Christians are persecuted," the Italian lawmaker concluded.
