During his visit to Italy on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th July, 2019) During his visit to Italy on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet with Italian President Sergio Mattarella and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
Below is the history of relations between Russia and Italy.
The diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Italy were established from February 7-11, 1924.
Despite the Pact of Friendship, Neutrality, and Nonaggression between the Soviet Union and Italy of 1933, Rome joined the war against the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, fighting on the side of Nazi Germany, so the diplomatic relations between the two countries were broken off. They were resumed in 1944, after the fall of Benito Mussolini's fascist regime.
In 1991, Italy recognized Russia as the successor to the Soviet Union.
The basic principles of bilateral relations are reflected in two documents: the Treaty on Friendship and Cooperation between the Russian Federation and the Italian Republic of October 14, 1994, and the Action Plan of Relations between the Russian Federation and the Italian Republic of February 10, 1998. In addition, both sides have accumulated numerous intergovernmental and interdepartmental agreements in specific areas of bilateral cooperation over recent decades.
Italy is one of Russia's most important European partners. Both countries work to maintain and develop intensive cooperation and conduct a rich political dialogue.
On June 10, 2015, Putin paid a visit to Italy, during which he and then-Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi took part in the opening ceremony of Russia's National Day at the Milan Expo 2015. During the event, Putin held talks with Renzi, and also met with Mattarella.
Putin and Mattarella met again on November 16, 2015, on the margins of the G20 summit in Antalya and on June 17, 2016, on the margins of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.
On April 11, 2017, Mattarella paid an official visit to Russia.
On May 17 of the same year, Putin held talks with then-Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, who came to Russia for a working visit.
Putin and Gentiloni also had a brief conversation on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg on July 7, 2017.
On November 23, 2017, Putin received the former Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, who was in Russia on a private visit, in his presidential residence of Bocharov Ruchey in the Russian resort city of Sochi.
On October 24, 2018, Conte came to Russia for an official visit. During the high-level talks, the parties exchanged views on key issues in the development of bilateral cooperation in trade, economic, energy, investment, cultural, humanitarian and other fields, as well as discussed international and regional issues. Putin and Conte also met with representatives of the business community, and heads of leading Italian enterprises. During the visit, Conte and Putin also met with Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
On November 13, 2018, Medvedev visited Italian city of Palermo, where he took part in an international conference on Libya.
Looking at the diplomatic front, the Russian and Italian foreign ministries hold active consultations on a wide range of bilateral and international issues.
On October 8, 2018, Italian Foreign Minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi paid his first working visit to Moscow after he assumed the office.
From November 22-23, 2018, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov paid a working visit to Italy, during which he held negotiations with Milanesi and Conte and spoke at the International Conference "The Mediterranean: Roman Dialogue."
Lavrov visited Italy once again on December 5, 2018, to take part in a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Ministerial Council in Milan.
Bilateral relations between Rome and Moscow are also characterized by interparliamentary contacts, as well as contacts between ministries and departments.
Italian Senate President Elisabetta Casellati paid a three-day official visit to Russia on January 30, 2019. She held talks with the Russian parliament's upper house speaker Valentina Matviyenko and with Russian State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin. This was the first visit of Italian Senate president to Russia in the last 10 years.
Roberto Fico, president of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, paid an official visit to Moscow in March 2019.
The High Russian-Italian Interparliamentary Commission has been operating since 2000. Its regular meeting was held in Moscow in March 2019.
Italy is one of Russia's largest European trade and economic partners. It ranks fifth among Russia's leading foreign trade partners and third among Russia's EU trade partners. Over the past two years, mutual trade, after more than a twofold decrease in 2014-2016, has entered the phase of sustainable growth.
In 2017, the volume of trade between Russia and Italy reached $23.9 billion, showing a 20.8 percent increase. The next year, the volume of trade continued to grow and reached $26.9 billion, with Russia's exports totaling $16.4 billion, and imports amounting to $10.5 billion.
Trade between Russia and Italy in the first quarter of this year already reached $8 billion, including $5 billion in Russian exports and $3 billion in imports.
More than 80 percent of Russian exports are mineral products. Metals and metal products, precious metals and stones, chemicals, wood and pulp and paper products are also among the exported goods.
Russian imports from Italy mainly include machinery, equipment and vehicles, chemicals, food and agricultural raw materials, metals and metal products, textiles and footwear, as well as wood and pulp and paper products.
The Russian-Italian Council for Economic, Industrial and Currency-Financial Cooperation focuses on the main issues of bilateral trade and economic cooperation. Its regular meeting was held in Rome in December 2018.
Russian-Italian investments exceed $7.5 billion, while Italian investments in the Russian economy, according to data from 2018, amount to $4.8 billion.
About 500 Italian enterprises are currently working in the Russian market, many of which have their production facilities in Russia.
The two countries cooperate in a wide range of industries, in the electricity industry, agro-industry, transport and energy infrastructures, oil production and refining, modern equipment manufacturing.
Italy is the second-largest buyer of Russian gas after Germany among Western European countries. In 2018, 22.77 billion cubic meters of Russian gas were supplied there.
The two countries are implementing a number of joint energy projects. Russian and Italian companies are developing gas fields, and are engaged in the production and supply of liquefied natural gas. The possibility of laying gas pipelines along the southern route for delivering Russian gas to Europe is being considered.
Italian corporations are helping to upgrade the Russian power industry. Italian energy giant Enel is involved in the modernization of Russian electricity grids and is building wind power plants in Russia.
Industrial cooperation is also developing. Italian tire manufacturer Pirelli and Russian state corporation Rostec carried out a technological innovation of tire production at Russia's Kirov and Voronezh tire plants.
The largest ammonia production plant in Europe was built in Russia's Leningrad Region with the participation of Italian companies.
In October 2018, a new plant manufacturing high-voltage electric motors for the needs of the oil and gas industry, shipbuilding, wind power generation and a number of other industries was launched in Chelyabinsk. This was a joint project of Russian oil company Transneft, Russian pipe supplier Konar and one of the world's leading engine manufacturers, Italia's Nidec.
The Amur Gas Processing Plant is currently under construction.
Italian companies have joined the implementation of infrastructure projects in Russia. In St. Petersburg, the construction of a modern highway, the Western High-Speed Diameter, was completed, and the Pulkovo Airport was reconstructed with their participation.
Russia and Italy have been expanding cooperation in the scientific and technical spheres. The Russian academy of Sciences and the Foundation for Basic Research closely cooperate with Italian scientists.
The Russian National Research Center "Kurchatov Institute" and Italia's National Research Council are working together on innovative projects in the field of thermonuclear fusion and on the creation of the Ignitor experimental reactor in Russia's Troitsk. Italians participate in a number of high technology projects at the Skolkovo Foundation site.
Cooperation in the field of manned space technology has also been successfully progressing. At the end of July 2019, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano will be launched to the International Space Station.
Bilateral cultural and humanitarian ties hinge on the 1998 intergovernmental agreement on cultural and education cooperation. The sides implement a number of projects to promote the Russian language in Italy and the Italian language in Russia. In 2009, both countries signed an intergovernmental agreement on the mutual recognition of education certificates issued in both Russia and Italy. Youth interaction also continues to develop. Since 2004, Russian and Italian secondary schools have been hosting national cultural and language weeks, and each country has been receiving a number of exchange students.
In 2018, the Russian Seasons festival, a large-scale, state-supported program of cultural events, represented by more than 300 Russian theater and ballet pieces, art and exhibition projects, was held in 75 Italian cities with great success.
Cooperation in the field of tourism is also developing. Italy is one of the most popular countries among Russian tourists. According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service (Rosstat), over 1 million Russian tourists visited Italy in 2018, while Russia was visited by 205,000 Italian tourists.
